Rain's Path: old version
by Killan
Summary: Hey everyone, here's how not to do a fanfic. While I won't be deleting it, I will post a new version soon I hope. Anyways if you want to learn how to do a fanfic the wrong way, then please continue on.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story so I hope I do good, this chapter isn't very long, it's just an introduction. Please read and review.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Sora, Kairi, Riku, Mickey Mouse, Donald, or Goofy, or any of the worlds in the video games but I do own my Heartless character Rain, the Keyblade Academy, and the instructors and students at the academy.

Chapter 1

(Why did I do that!?) (Why?)

The young neoshadow heartless ran as fast as he could through the dark, abandoned streets, every now and then taking a brief glance over his shoulder to see if he was being followed.

Up ahead was an intersection of three branching roads leading left, right, and straight forward. The heartless felt the perspiration that had formed on his forehead begin to trickle down and enter his eyes. He quickly wiped away the sweat as he attempted to justify which path to take.

(Krome knows I'll take left, but if I go right it may lead to a dead end. However, if I take left they won't look for me wherever it leads because it would be too obvious.)

The neoshadow's head snapped up as he heard sounds behind him, not just any sounds though; he heard the sounds of a running mob. The neoshadow knew he had only seconds to decide, taking a deep breath he ran down the left path hoping it would lead to freedom. As he ran the heartless looked left and right as he passed burning buildings. There were some corpses on the ground of people who had wished to die rather than to turn into one of the monsters that had invaded their homes. The heartless suddenly saw an upcoming alley to his left and ran into it. As he continued to run the heartless lost hope as he saw that a huge wall was right in his path. Quickly he looked left and right trying to find any path to salvation, but all he saw was a pile trash cans. Without considering the logic he dashed behind the cans and slowed his breathing. For a second there was pure silence, the only noise that could be heard was the fire crackling in the nearby buildings, when suddenly the sound of running feet could be heard. The heartless shrank closer to the cans as the sounds of the crowd passed by and soon silence was dominant again.

The neoshadow got up slowly, his whole body trembling, before he back out onto the street and ran the opposite way of the heartless mob.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Let me be clear as to why we are here. Approximately at about 0200 hours there was an attack on Neverland's communication station. We do not know how the heartless were able to take it down without being detected, but they did. Lucky for us we had installed a second station, an emergency one, that would respond automatically if the first would ever fail."

The man speaking looked to be in his mid 40's. He had blond hair that was buzz-cut short and sported no facial hair. He wore a black collared sleeveless shirt along with tan combat pants; he also wore a tan belt which was equipped with a small dagger. His audience was composed fifteen young adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five all were sitting on three rows composed of seats and each wore a harness binding them to their seats.

The man took a moment to look at each of his students before he resumed his speech.

"I know that for many of you this will be like many of the missions you have been sent on before and you know exactly what to do. But for others…" The man took a pause to look at the five students sitting in the middle row, "…this will be your very first mission to a different world and you all are probably scared out of your minds! Well don't be, you will all be paired with a more experienced keyblader who will take care of you while showing you the ropes. Take this time to view this mission as a … training ground. You have all passed the virtual trainer so just do what you do in there and you won't die."

The man paused again as he looked around again.

"Remember the first rule to engagement."

All the students then shouted in a loud voice.

"ALWAYS STICK TOGETHER!"

The man smiled.

"Very good, remember that and your training and you won't die."

The man turned back to the pilot of the gummi ship.

"How long before we reach Neverland?"

"We are entering the atmosphere now, sir."

The man turned back to the students.

"Get ready and do your best."

"YES, SIR MR. COBAN!"

This chapter is from the keybladers point of view, next chapter will be Rain's POV and it will continue like this until both sides meet. Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The neoshadow had been running for only a few minutes but he was gasping heavily none the less. He had left the mob far behind him, but he knew he had to find somewhere to hide, at least until his pursuers left the planet, and then he would decide what action to take next. Up ahead he saw a building that, thankfully, was not destroyed, on fire, and had a open doorway. Stepping up cautiously to the doorway, the neoshadow quickly ducked his head inside. As a heartless, he too had the ability to see in the dark just as if the sun was shining in the room. Upon seeing nobody the neoshadow slowly crept inside and dashed across the room to the nearby hallway.

The heartless paused here as he saw a staircase, looking around cautiously yet again he dashed upstairs and into the first open doorway he came upon. The room was seemed to be decorated for child, there was a cradle as well as bottles, dolls, and various supplies spilled on the floor; no doubt the owners had been too busy grabbing all the essentials to clean up after themselves. The heartless then spied what appeared to be a broken china doll lying on the ground next to a dresser. The creature reached down and picked up the doll and held it for a second, before sighing and holding it to his chest.

(It appears we have both been abandoned by our friends) He said mournfully to the doll.

The heartless was then beginning to place the remains of the doll back on the dresser when he heard a loud sound that sounded almost like a roar. The heartless' antennas sprang up as he realized what the vessel was. Not caring for stealth, he ran down stairs and out the door he had entered just in enough time to see a bigger than average gummi ship pilot past overhead. The heartless clutched his head and groaned weakly.

(Now I need to be even more on guard!)

The heartless looked back into the skies to see if he could predict where the ship would land. He soon sighed in relief when he saw that the ship had landed at the town square. Calculating the math in his head, the neoshadow figured that the keybladers would have to set up a perimeter, decide on a plan of attack, find survivors, find the lead heartless, and combined with other duties, as long as he didn't engage any group and stayed hidden he could wait until both sides clashed and left the planet, then he would be free to plan his next decision.

(Just stay hidden and I'll get out of this alive.)

Relieved that he had figured out the best course of action he began to walk back to the house when he heard a voice speak behind him.

(So you have betrayed us.)

The heartless stopped suddenly as he realized he knew the voice. Gulping nervously the creature of darkness turned around slowly and saw another neoshadow a few feet behind him. The differences between the two could be instantly identified, while one was cringing, the other stood at full height, its arms crossed across its chest. The neoshadow who had spoken was more muscular and seemed to have an air of authority around him. The bigger neoshadow slowly began to walk toward the cringing heartless.

(K- Kr- Krome! Ho- How did you f- find m- me?) The smaller neoshadow croaked.

Krome stopped and folded his arms again, he narrowed his eyes and spoke,

(You leave evidence everywhere, just as you always have. It might have taken me some time to find it, but I found it nonetheless.)

The smaller heartless began to back away as Krome approached and even slipped, causing his back to smack against the concrete.

(P- Please Krome, I didn't mean to do it! They just appeared and- and I- I'm sorry!)

Krome stopped and slowly shook his head.

(You were never like one of us. Always sympathetic toward humans, never understanding why we do why we do. You are no heartless, you are a worm, a worm that I intend to squish.)

The neoshadow was trembling now, not just because of Krome's threat, but how he said it like it was fact. The heartless looked for anything to defend itself and worried even more when he saw that there was nothing.

Krome suddenly crouched and lept at the immobile heartless. Almost at the last second the heartless felt a surge of energy flow through his body and managed to roll to the side, barely avoiding Krome's claws. Getting up quickly he turned and ran down the street. Krome walked out to the street and shouted after the frightened fugitive.

(WHEREVER YOU GO I WILL FIND YOU, AND TRUST ME YOU WILL PAY DEARLY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Wait for it … wait … now!"

Suddenly the three gummi ships that had landed opened and a crowd of keybladers ran out, summoning their respective keyblades to their hands. Mr. Corban walked out of a gummi ship a second later his right hand clutching the oblivion keyblade.

"Like I said, stay together. Find the leader quickly and take it out! The faster we find him fewer lives are lost. If you find any survivors contact a rescue group using the radios, tell the survivors to stay where they are until rescuers are there, destroy any heartless that block your path. REMEMBER if there are large groups of heartless in any area, the leader is likely there, wait until backup comes to engage it. AM I CLEAR?"

"YES MR. CORBAN"

The man smiled.

"GOOD, NOW HEAD OUT!"

As the keybladers went their own way two eighteen year olds one a blonde headed boy, the other a red headed girl ,both wearing red jackets, ran toward a woman with a green jacket. Both saluted at the woman who returned their salute.

"Kevin and Mara, right?"

Both students nodded and the woman continued.

"Alright, we are heading toward the northern part of town, remember to watch each other's backs and don't do anything stupid."

The woman turned and ran toward a street with the two young students right behind her. About five minutes later they came upon their first group of heartless, three shadows and an air pirate. With the element of surprise working for them the keybladers easily took down the shadows, although this quickly alerted the winged heartless, who powered up a fist and punched Kevin, knocking him back a few feet. The woman jumped up and slashed through the heartless' body. She then reached down and pulled up Kevin.

"Sorry Ms. Pollock."

The woman simply smiled.

"That's alright Kevin happens to everyone at one point or another. But we must keep moving!"

They trio continued running down the street slicing any heartless they came across until finally they reached an intersection. Ms. Pollock turned to the students,

"Well, which way?"

Both thought hard and pointed to the right path.

Ms. Pollock nodded and ran down the street with the students bringing up the rear. As they continued to run Ms. Pollock suddenly held up a hand indicating that they should stop. Creeping toward the corner of a nearby building, she turned her head and peered down the alley way, she quickly pulled her head back and nodded to the students.

"The boss is right there." She whispered silently, "I'll call back up, do not make any sounds and breathe slowly."

As soon as she finished her sentence she reached down slowly to grab her radio when suddenly a loud howl echoed in the night air. At once the leader leapt out of the aisle into the street and began running down it. The students had frightened expressions on their faces and were breathing very fast. Ms. Pollock looked at the way the heartless had ran and frowned.

"Strange why weren't there more guards?" She muttered. She then sighed. "Doesn't matter now, let's go after it."

Despite the different ideas in the trio's heads as to why the heartless was moving, none knew that the heartless was searching for a traitor among its ranks.

Please rate and review; this will be my last chapter until someone reviews! Don't worry it will get action packed soon enough.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I've realized now that I won't get many people to review for me, since I am new to the site, and my story is not very large. I have done the same thing, where I decide to read a story with more chapters than the story comprising only of two chapters, so for those watching my story, sorry for the delay in the chapters, I now have a clear head and will continue writing additional chapters, so here's chapter 5.

Ms. Pollock had been leading the trio for the past hour now, stopping every now and then, allowing the two accompanying students to rest. She remembered her first mission, thinking it would be just like the simulated experiences back at the academy, she, like these students, had been wrong and had become exhausted in the first ten minutes. Luckily the training had improved so the students with her were not to the point of collapsing, but they were also not at the peak of their energy.

The red headed girl had managed to catch up to the experienced keyblader and was gasping heavily, "Ma'am can't we take a break? I don't think I can keep up much longer."

Ms. Pollock frowned, "I know you're tired Mara, but we need to find the leader again, and since the radio was crushed during the battle back there, we are the only ones who know the current position of the leader."

"Can't you activate a flare or something, that's what they told us back at the …"

"A flare is only used when the leader has been cornered, if I activated a flare now, every keyblader would convene at this location, only to learn that the leader is not here, and the heartless would no doubt take that time to surge back to the areas that they have been beaten out of, so the keybladers would have to work their way to their last positions, and fight through waves of heartless just to win back the ground that we were able to gain earlier."

"Oh."

At that moment Kevin ran up, gasping heavily.

Ms. Pollock frowned, "Have you even been training for this mission Kevin?"

"Sorry Ma'am, I missed some of the training"

"Fine, we'll have to slow our pace, now let's head down this street, and keep your eyes open."

The three wielders ran down a narrow back alley, their hands gripping their keyblade handles, ready for an ambush.

Ms. Pollock suddenly held up a hand, "Hold".

Both students stopped, throwing glances in every direction, trying to find the threat that Ms. Pollock no doubt had identified.

"I want to ask both of you something important. Do you two not think that it is… strange… that we have only come upon one group of heartless since we found the leader."

Kevin frowned, "Now that you mention it, all the textbooks we studied always said that heartless crowd around the leader, kind of acting as an entourage. But I don't see any entourages."

Mara nodded, "I remember the talk Mr. Corban gave us, how to look for a large group of heartless since that would be where the leader was, yet I haven't seen a heartless for the past ten minutes. You think there could be two bosses?"

"No, in all my experience if you get multiple leaders on the same planet, they will wipe each other out until one remains, basically allowing only one to have ultimate control over the other heartless."

Mara's head snapped up, "Maybe that's where the other one went then, to fight another leader. Maybe one just happened to port in when we found the first boss, and their fighting now?"

Ms. Pollock shook her head, "That still does not explain why there were no guardians around the first boss, there's something else happening here. We need to find that boss and find out what's happening.

Suddenly a loud roar echoed throughout the town, causing the ground and buildings to shake momentarily.

"We need to get over there now!"

As they headed out of the alley they saw five more wielders, each wore a red uniform.

"Seniors.", Mara breathed.

Ms. Pollock headed toward leader of the group, "Brandon, you heard that?"

The senior Brandon had a certain air about him that could calm even the most hectic of people, he wielded a keyblade that was a long blue sword, about five feet in length, and on his left shoulder he had a patch that consisted of a black eagle in a blue background, indicating his senior status.

"Yeah, seemed to come from the east, say Nancy, you haven't seen any heartless around have you?"

"No, it's strange. It's like they just disappeared. You think someone already defeated the leader?"

Brandon shook his head, "Have you even heard the commotion on the radio, there are people out there that are confused as hell. Think about it Nancy, we came expecting about a thousand heartless, and we can't find a single one, something is just not right about this…hold on."

The radio started to static and began to transmit a voice, "Attention all units massive heartless readings located at the town square, repeat massive readings at the town square. All available units are to head to the town square, repeat all available units are to head to the town square."

Brandon smiled, "We're just a couple of blocks from there."

He then turned to his group, "Alright we're heading to the town square, be on your toes."

"Mara, Kevin, we're going too, stay close everyone."

As the two groups raced toward the hub center of the world, they did not realize that they were going to become involved in something that would very well change the future of every planet in known space.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

(No, it wasn't like that … That's not true … Please you don't understand!)

Krome was standing in front of the trembling heartless as various shouts and curses were flung at the neoshadow, (You know, it is your fault that the light is here, if it were not for you, we would still be masked in darkness.)

(I-I didn't mean to touch it!)

Krome glared at the heartless (Rain, all your life you have been different, aiding hearts when you should have been taking them, hindering your own kind's efforts. We have let it slide before, but now all of your crimes have been lumped together, and now is the time to accept your punishment for every…single…one.)

Rain gulped and looked around him. Multitudes of heartless had formed a semicircle around him and slowly began to close in. Rain let out a cry and began to back away, and continued to do so, until his back hit against a wall. Panic and fear flared up inside the heartless.

(H-hey can't we talk about this at least, say w-what I have d-done right?)

Krome snickered, (Sorry Rain, it just doesn't quite work that way.)

As the heartless continued to creep forward, the neoshadow found the only actions he were able to do was to tremble and wimper, hoping that this was a clever joke.

Rain suddenly heard a loud roar as the heartless surrounding him stopped. Krome laughed, (Looks like Ashton wants a first class seat to your execution.) The leader that Ms. Pollock looked like a sort of purple bull with a horn fitted right on its forehead. The heartless leader Aston roared again and the heartless began to creep forward yet again.

"What are they doing down there?" Ms. Pollock whispered.

Brandon took the eye piece from her and looked at the heartless mob, "Seems that they have something cornered down there, or it could just be nothing."

One of the other seniors perked up, "Think it could be another wielder sir?"

"Maybe, but don't jump to conclusions yet. Until you see a keyblade or something else that would indicate that, don't come to that conclusion. Remember heartless are just mindless beings, hell they could just be doing squat down there for all I know."

The heartless were barely a two feet away from Rain, when suddenly Ashton roared, again, and the heartless leaped. Rain squeezed his eyes shut and instinctively put his arms out and then…

Suddenly a bright flash of light emitted from the middle of the heartless mob, many had been thrown back and some had been thrown up so high that when they made contact with the ground, they disappeared into black wisps.

Mara had a surprised look on her face, "Shit, did you see that ma'am."  
Ms. Pollock smiled, "Yes, it means someone's down there." She turned to Brandon's group, "We have to get down there and help whoever they have cornered."

"But ma'am the leader is down there, if we go it'll be suicide."

"No it won't, we will only cause a distraction short enough so whoever is down there can escape."

"But we have no backup we would last only a minute against a mob that size!"

"Senior, you should be more aware of your surroundings."

She then turned and a pink flower shaped keyblade appeared in her hand, "CHARGE."

The students followed after her each calling out their own keyblade. Other keybladers who had hidden along the edges of the town square suddenly appeared charging toward the enemy as well.

Rain slowly opened his eyes and gasped, they were here again. He quickly looked at the heartless who were surrounding … had been surrounding him and realized he had blown them back a couple of feet.

Krome had jumped back just before the explosion and looked around at his fellow surviving heartless, (See he is against us! He was just waiting to take out our numbers!)

It was at that moment that the heartless heard a loud sound behind them and saw the keybladers rushing toward them.

(He has called them here!)

(No, I didn't!)

Krome glared at him, (Don't worry about him, take out the light's warriors before any more come!)

The heartless turned and ran toward their sworn enemies.

Ms. Pollock called behind her, "Get ready for impact!"

A second later both forces clashed. The heartless leading the charge quickly disappeared into puffs of black smoke and pink hearts rose into the sky. As more of the heartless were quickly downed more heartless appeared to the sides of the keyblade army and quickly closed into a tight circle. Mara was caught in the middle and was surrounded all around by her fellow warriors, so the only action she could do was slay the occasional heartless that managed to get past the defenders. Kevin, on the other hand had somehow managed to get near the front lines and received more action than he could handle. Multitudes of heartless leapt at him attempting to slice at his throat or cut open his chest, it was thanks to the defenders on either side of him that he only received a few scratches on his arms. As he looked to his sides he saw that the more experienced wielders were cutting down the waves of heartless almost like this was a training exercise, he was only able to kill one heartless a minute while the teachers were cutting down what seemed like hundreds in less than a second.

Ms. Pollock called out, "Get to the leader, you five with me! On my count!"

"ONE…", leaping heartless were quickly sliced apart, "…TWO…", One of the seniors near the edges was pulled into the crowd, screaming as he was torn apart, "…THREE!". Suddenly the keybladers raised their blades as each produced a bright white light. The heartless clutched at their eyes momentarily blinded as the group of six ran toward the behemoth. The leader was blinded as well and by the time it recovered it noticed that six keybladers were on its back and head slashing furiously at its horn. With a mighty roar it began to shake its head back and forth, knocking two of its enemies off, but two more took their places slashing wildly at its weak spot. The horn began to glow a bright blue and the warriors jumped off running as quick as they could from the behemoth as pillars of light surrounded the creature. As soon as the light dissipated the group ran back to the beast attempting to reach the horn. The behemoth stomped around keeping the warriors at bay. During this time Kevin was still swinging his blade when he heard a sound behind him, turning around he saw a heartless disappear in black smoke and Mara holding her keyblade where the heartless had been.

"Need to watch your back, Kevin." Kevin simply grinned, "Where were you?"

She ducked as a neoshadow swung its claws at her; as soon as the arm passed she sprung up and swung her blade twice at the creature, felling it. "Let's say that I was at a place where there was, literally, no action."

"Well glad to have you here."

A wyvern suddenly swooped down and grabbed at Mara, lifting her into the air. Kevin held his keyblade behind him and threw it at the wyvern. The wyvern cried out as the blade tore into its chest, killing it, and causing Mara to fall. Springing forward Kevin held out his arms and managed to catch Mara, putting her down he held out his hand and his blade obediently returned to him.

"Looks like you should have stayed where you were."

Mara gave Kevin a glare, which quickly turned to fear, "Kevin, where are the others?"

Kevin looked around them and saw that heartless had surrounded them as well as other keybladers effectively cutting the army into small sections, "They've cut us off from each other!"

The heartless around them began to rush in, Kevin and Mara quickly put themselves into their defensive stances, "Mara, try to hold them off as long as you can! Don't try to attack, I'm pretty sure that the leader is almost down!"

In fact Kevin was almost right. While the leader had been significantly weakened by the keybladers it still held the advantage over the battle by thrashing about, trying to keep the warriors from its vulnerable area. While the behemoth was mostly paying attention to the enemy in front of itself, it did not notice a warrior sneak up behind and leap at its leg, managing to grab hold of its muscular appendage. The creature roared again and danced about trying to knock the intruder off of its body.

"Brandon, get off you're going to get squashed!" Ms. Pollock called out.

Instead of trying to escape, Brandon began to crawl up the leg. Soon enough he had managed to crawl onto the back and began a slow trek to the horn. Other wielders saw Brandon and began to run at the behemoth, attempting to divert its attention, which, surprisingly, worked. This allowed Brandon to climb up much faster and in no time he was at the horn. Gripping it with one hand he began to hack away at it. The beast screamed and began to swing its head again, attempting to dislodge the warrior. Brandon continued to swing until the beast gave a piercing shriek. The heartless mob suddenly stopped attacking and each individual began to squirm almost as if they were in pain, before disappearing into the darkness.

Brandon jumped off the beast and ran quickly as the creature collapsed. Its heart disappeared into the dark night and less than a second later its body followed.

Brandon had his hands on his knees and was gasping heavily, Ms. Pollock ran up to him and straightened him, "Remember stay straight, hands on head, don't want you waking up with a cramp tomorrow." He smiled weakly, "Thanks."

During this time the keybladers had been holding up their blades shouting victory cries.

Mara and Kevin emerged from the crowd covered with cuts and bruises, "THAT was a battle", exclaimed Kevin proudly.

"I really need to take a shower", groaned Mara.

Ms. Pollock turned to the crowd and held up a hand indicating silence, "Alright, everyone return to the ships, our job is done, for those of you on the repair team, rendezvous at the…", here she paused as she looked at a map she had pulled out of her pocket,"… tram station, you will be met with your superiors and they will guide you to the communication station. Let's move!"

Weary keybladers began walking back to the pick-up zone as Ms. Pollock approached Kevin and Mara, "Seems like you two had fun today."

"Well we thought it would be less chaotic." By this time they were the only three left in the area.

"Everyone always thinks it'll be like the simulations. Now let's get you two…"

Suddenly a sound came from an alleyway near the spot that Brandon had taken down the leader. Ms. Pollock frowned and summoned her blade, pointing to the alleyway she began to creep slowly toward it.

Mara whispered, "I thought all heartless leave when…"

"Sometimes there are stragglers who refuse to go."

Soon they were at the entrance and Ms. Pollock gestured to the other side of the entrance. Mara and Kevin pushed themselves against the wall. Ms. Pollock held up three fingers…two…one.

The trio leapt into the alley and saw a neoshadow trying to hide behind one of the trash cans. The heartless jumped and seeing who had found him seemed to freeze on the spot. Ms. Pollock raised her keyblade and swung down. A bright light enveloped the area causing the three to instinctively shut their eyes. As they opened them all three gasped as they looked at the trembling heartless, in its hands were keyblades.

Everyone know heartless can wield keyblades, but why can this one? Tune in to find out!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ms. Pollock staggered back from the heartless a look of confusion evident on her face. "H-how?" she looked back at the trembling heartless. "How is this…?" Both students looked at her, still having their keyblades pointed at the heartless, "Ma'am, what do we do?"

Ms. Pollock looked at them and in one of the first times in her life, had no clue as what to do. Seconds passed in silence until procedures on unusual activity began to flow through her mind. "Kevin, Mara, stay here and guard that…thing, if it moves, kill it."

Rain was still locked in his moment of shock until he heard that part of the sentence. (W-what?)

The trio stopped and looked around them, suddenly aware. "Who said that?" "Reveal yourself at once!"

(Um, down here.) Rain croaked.

The light's warriors stared in wonder, the red-haired warrior looked at him and asked in a shaking voice, "D-did it just speak?"

The heartless, cowering beneath the attention that he was receiving from the warriors, weakly nodded, since the rest of his body was still paralyzed with fear.

The tall warrior said in a much stronger voice, "Like I said before, kill it if it moves."

Turning, she walked out of the alley back to the town square. Although Rain was pretty sure that the two remaining humans would follow their leader's (he was pretty sure that the one that just left was their leader) orders, he could not help slowly crawling backwards toward the opposite exit of the alleyway. He presumed that if he could move slowly enough and quietly enough he could escape the notice of the warriors who, for the time being, were still staring toward the direction their leader had gone. As soon as Rain began to backpedal, he felt something brush against his hands, looking down he saw that the blades had disappeared; no doubt ready to reappear whenever he didn't need them. During his crawl he took the time look up at the humans, just to make sure they were not aware of his movement.

Kevin sighed as he turned to Mara, "What a turn of events."

Mara frowned, "I'm not sure I like this Kevin."

"Why not?"

"Did you see how that heartless was acting? He was not like the ones we were fighting today. Heartless will simply attack you for getting too close, he… he looked scared."

"Mara, heartless fear the keyblade, since we surrounded him, of course he would be scared, the only time he would not be fearful would be when he was behind…"

Kevin turned about abruptly to see the heartless slowly crawling away from them. "Hold it right there!"

The heartless stopped dead in its tracks as its body began to shake.

"Get back here right now!"

The heartless looked back at him and lowered its head, its body still shaking.

Kevin narrowed his eyes, "I said now, or I'll just have to perform target practice on you!"

The heartless crawled back, its trembling even more violent.

(P-please don't hurt me!)

Kevin scowled, "Shut up, and stay where we tell you, got it?"

The heartless whimpered softly as it nodded its head slowly.

Kevin frowned, "Good."

Kevin turned to Mara, "See that's how you deal with enemies, assertiveness. Works every time."

Mara simply cast a glare at Kevin and then looked at the heartless.

She walked forward and then crouched down so her face was level with the heartless'.

"Hey, if you want… you can lay against the wall, instead of lying on the street."

The heartless cast a glance at the wall and made a beeline to it. Resting its back against it, it drew up its knees and sat there, still trembling.

Kevin looked at her as she walked toward the wall, "Mara, what the hell are you doing?"

Mara approached the wall and sat next to the heartless. The neoshadow cast a fearful glance at her as she began to talk, "Hey, do you mind telling me your name?" she asked softly.

The heartless cast what appeared to be a curious look at her, (W-what?)

Mara smiled, "Your name silly. For example, my name is Mara, that's what everyone calls me. Does someone you know call you something?"

The heartless gulped, (R-Rain. I-I'm Rain.)

Mara smiled and held out her hand, "Nice to meet you Rain."

Kevin walked over, lifted Mara up and led her began to drag her away from Rain. She broke her hand free from his grasp and glared at him, "What's your problem Kevin!?"

Kevin sighed, "Do you even know what you are…" "Who, you mean." "…what you are talking to! A heartless, destroyer of words, mass killing machines, any of these phrases ring a bell?!"

"Kevin, there's just… something different about, look, you got him upset again." Mara began to walk toward the heartless as Kevin placed his hands on his face and groaned.

Mara frowned; she did not see the Rain's yellow orb eyes, but as she leaned down suddenly there they were again. "Did you just close your eyes?" Rain nodded, (There was dirt in them.)

Mara laughed, "Sorry to be off topic but I've never seen a heartless blink before."

(I don't know, I think it's because they don't know how.)

Rain looked over at Kevin, (Is he mad at me?)

Mara glanced over her shoulder, "Nah, Kevin is just… a little too formal about his job, hell if he could he would take on every heartless known to man just to say that it could, and should, be done."

(Does he hate my kind?)

Mara sighed, "Very much so."

(Why?)

Mara simply smiled, "It's not my place to say, but once you two become acquainted you can ask him, speaking of which…"

Mara walked over to Kevin grabbed his arm and lead him to Rain.

"Kevin this is Rain, Rain this is Kevin."

(H-Hello.)

Kevin simply snorted, "I don't speak to murderers."

Turning around he went back to his spot and looked at the direction Ms. Pollock had gone.

Greg Croban sighed as he looked at the three cloaks on the table before him, each bore a different name yet they had one thing in common, their wearers were dead. The academy had developed these cloaks a while back when they found students simply disappearing during battle. It was revealed after much investigation that whenever a person's heart was taken by the heartless, the body, along with clothes, simply vanished into oblivion. Each student was instructed to wear a cloak and the policy was rather simple, finding an ownerless cloak on the battlefield meant that the wielder had perished in battle. It was the only item left behind and thus after the death was recorded in the academy records the cloak was handed back to the family, and it looked like three more families were going to join in the tradition.

Greg rubbed his temples vigorously trying to relax, but not succeeding. Already the different scenarios were flowing through his mind of what the loved ones would do, ranging from quiet acceptance, even thinking of the fallen warrior as one who had died for a noble cause, to uncontrollable rage such as overturning desks and smashing anything they could in sight, as well as blame him for their death. He had seen all of it for the past ten years and no doubt would continue for a long time. Many times he thought about quitting, but then he thought of the man who would replace him and wondered if he could take the responsibility for the lives of others, and every time it brought him to the same conclusion, he had to continue.

Greg sighed and turned to a women working behind a desk, "Ms. Lamina, how much longer before I call them?"

"Sir, policy dictates you wait a period of twenty minutes before any emergency calls can be made."

"Alright."

At that moment his radio began to beep, "Please let that be her."

Though the connection had some static he could still hear the woman speaking, "Hello, Greg you there?"

"Nancy, where the hell have you been!? I have had the students waiting here for a good ten minutes, pretty soon I was afraid I would have to send them out to find your remains! What in heaven possessed you that you would not contact me, your superior, to indicate that your group had survived!"

"Greg calm down, we have a… E-5."

There was a brief silence before Greg answered, "E-5, you sure Nancy?"

"Yes."  
"Well, what's unusual? Are there strong readings, stragglers…?"

"Sir, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you. All I can say is you need to get down here now!"

"That serious huh?"

"It's more important than getting back to the academy on time I can say."

Greg sighed, "Alright, I'll head down, I see on map your at town square, so just flag me down when you see me alright, last time I used this crap I was fifty miles off course."

"I'll do that sir."

Greg turned to Lamina, "You're in charge until I come back, make sure that none of the students leave, we don't need a repeat of Atlantis."

"Yes sir."

Greg walked to the garage and was soon at this hover bike, "One of these days, this job will kill me." he mutterered.

Ms. Pollock walked back to the alley to find Kevin leaning against the wall, with a discontent look on his face, and Mara sitting with the heartless.

"Mara, what are you doing?"

Mara quickly sat up, "Um… I was just…"

"Making friends with the poor, defenseless heartless, _right _Mara?" Kevin sneered.

"Mara is this true?"

Mara sighed, "Look Rain was…"

Ms. Pollock raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Rain – the heartless, he was scared by Kevin's threats so I decided to calm him down."

Ms. Pollock looked down at the neoshadow, who was now shaking yet again, "It told you its name?"

"Rain is a _he_, and he's nothing like the other heartless, he said…"

"Mara stop before you say anything else because I don't want to hear it. I'm stressed out enough as it is, now go over there and don't talk to it again."

Mara frowned, gave a short good-bye wave to Rain and walked further down the alley and sat down.

Ms. Pollock turned to Rain, "We're going to get you figured out in a little while, stay put, and if you act well, we might just let you die without too much pain."

She didn't know how, but she sensed that the heartless felt shocked as it weakly nodded its head, but she brushed off the feeling.

Heading back out, she saw a motorcycle and began to wave.

Seconds later Mr. Corban was off and walking with her briskly toward the alley.

"Well, what is it that we have to delay take-off for a good thirty minutes?"

"Well sir, its…that." She said pointing at Rain.

Mr. Corban gave her a curious look, "Seriously Nancy, are you sure there is no gas leak around here messing with your head, because all I see is a heartless waiting to be cut down."

Before Nancy could explain Mr. Corban walked over to Rain, summoned his keyblade, and prepared to slice up Rain when Rain cried out. (Please don't hurt me!)

Mr. Corban staggered back, "W-what in the hell!"

Nancy smiled grimly, "I tried to warn you sir."

"That… thing just fucking spoke!"

"I know sir, he says his name is Rain."

Mr. Corban turned back to the heartless, "Stand up heartless, NOW!"

Immediately Rain jumped up, his body still shaking.

"Bring him and put him in the cages, have a guard on him at all times. I need to contact the academy for this."

Turning around he walked back to his bike and drove to the ship.

"You two heard him, bring it back to the ship."

Mara stood up, "Why do I have to keep telling you that he is not a 'it', _his_ name is Rain!"

Kevin rolled his eyes, "_Fine_, Rain come or your dead."

Rain involuntarily let out a small whimper and began to follow his captors out to whatever a 'ship' was.

Bless Mara and her kind heart, she's Rain's first friend. What will happen to Rain now that he's captured? Will he be destroyed or will something worse happen? Tune in to find out!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"…yes, that's correct sir."

"And you're sure about this Greg?"

"I saw it myself, so what do you want us to do with it?"

The man on the screen frowned as he thought about what to do with the heartless calling itself Rain.

The area Mr. Corban was in was his office quarters on the ship, and while commanders had the liberty to decorate their work areas, much of the room was bare.

There was a desk at the end of the room with a lamp and some scattered papers on it. On one of the walls there were three pictures depicting Mr. Corban with a small girl and boy and a grown woman leaning against him. Another picture just showed him and the woman on what seemed to be a beach, wearing only their swimsuits, holding each other with smiles on their faces. There were also five plaques hanging next to the pictures, each holding a different colored medal. The only other item was a big screen television, although it was not used for viewing pleasures. The main purpose of it was to contact the academy to receive new information regarding the situation that he and his warriors were heading into. While Mr. Corban was only to call the academy whenever there was an emergency situation, he had deemed this particular scenario exactly that.

"Sir?" Mr. Corban asked, seeing that his superior was still deep in thought.

"Huh … oh right. Greg, you are to bring Rain here and escort him to the white room, make sure nothing befalls him. Keep him away from your soldiers, frankly for the fear they may kill first and ask questions later. If he has to go anywhere make sure that he always has an escort, also regarding the keybladers who have already seen him, make sure they tell no one. If they can't keep their mouth shut then just insure that they are kept away from the others, Got it?

Mr. Corban saluted, "Yes sir!"

"Alright, make _sure_to bring Rain unharmed." The monitor turned off and Mr. Corban headed to the prison cages.

Rain sighed as he looked up yet again in between the metal bars at Mara and the other warriors. From what Rain could interpret they had taken an emergency ramp that led directly to where they were now, although Rain didn't understand why they just didn't go up the front ramp. He had felt like asking Mara, but he saw how she had been punished when she had been talking to him before and did not want to have her punished again just because he had an unimportant question. One thing that the heartless was not enjoying was being locked in a cage, although Mara told him it was for his own safety, he had a hard time believing that these cages were made to protect individuals.

Kevin and Mara were sitting on chairs that were here for anyone who had been assigned to watch prisoners, whenever they had some. Ms. Pollock had left to take care of personal matters, so Mara thought it was as good as any time to continue her conversation with Rain. As she pulled her chair over to the cage Kevin spoke up, "You know they have security cameras in here. If Ms. Pollock doesn't find out, Mr. Corban will.

Mara simply rolled her eyes, "Kevin, I'm just talking to him, it's not like I'm slipping him the key, or telling him in whispers how to pick a lock. Sheesh."

Soon her chair was next to the cage. Sitting down she smiled at Rain, "Couldn't help noticing that you look uncomfortable in there." The neoshadow looked up, (How do you know that?)

Mara laughed, "You've been pacing silly. Hell, you even have this discontented look on your face. Don't ask me how I can tell, I just…can."

Rain sighed, (This cage was not made to protect, was it?)

Mara shook her head, "It's a prisoner's cage, we put bad people in there so they can't harm anyone on the ship."

(But I didn't hurt anyone!)

Mara sighed, "I know Rain, but our superiors just want to make sure that they are not mistaken about you. If you act good, then for the rest of the trip you may be let out. Trust me you don't want to be bored on a ship like this. Compared to a gummi ship, this thing is as slow as a tortoise crawling on land. Don't worry, it'll get us where we're going, but it'll take its slow sweet time.

Rain cocked his head, (Then why do you travel in it then?)

"Well, most of the time we don't. We usually take our own personal gummi ship and head out to worlds that need help since most of the time leaders and their armies can be taken out by, at least, three keybladers. We only use these ships whenever there is a large invasion, like the one that just happened, or we students are taken on a field trip.

(What's a 'student'?)

"That's me and Kevin, and some of the other wielders on this ship. A student is someone who learns a….particular uh, trade, yeah, trade from someone else who has uh, already mastered the trade.

(Oh. Is it always like this?)

"Well…no, most of the time we simply train at the academy. Although sometimes we go to different planets just to see how each is unique in its own way."

(How many planets have you gone to Mara?)

"I would say…about five, how about you Rain?"

(I…I don't know, I think this was my first one.)

Mara nodded, "So why did your kind come?"

(We were looking for something, the others said we were looking for hearts, but I don't like taking hearts.)

"Why not?"

(Well, it makes me feel….strange, like its wrong or something like that. Everyone always said I was different because of that.)

"Wait, were you the one that threw the all the other heartless into the air?"

(I didn't mean to, it just happened!) Rain cried out standing up.

"It's okay Rain, I'm not accusing you of anything, I just wanted to know. Did you use the keyblades?"

Rain crossed his arms, (Those things cause all sorts of bad stuff to happen! I don't even know why I have them! They just…appeared one day and-and they caused everyone to hate me! I want them gone!)

"Rain calm down, I was just asking a question. Relax, relax…"

Rain slowly closed his eyes and nodded his head, (Sorry, it's just that, they caused so much bad things, I almost lost one of my friends because of them.)

"You have a friend?"

(Had, he was killed when he went off our world.)

"Oh, I'm sorry."

(That's alright, you didn't know.)

Rain suddenly felt a thought stir in his head, (Mara, why are you the only one who talks to me? Now that I think about it, you're the only one who calls me by my name.)

"Well, I guess that's the kind of person I am. You know…" Mara chuckled, "onetime I actually tired to become friends with a nobody, I didn't know what he was at the time, but when I had my back turned he attacked me. It was luck that my teacher found me in enough time to kill him, but even if I knew that before about him, I would still probably have tried to become friends with him."

(Why?)

"Well, I don't know. My teachers say I have some of kind of sympathy toward everything, I detest killing anything that seems defenseless, so most of the time in simulations if there are a good number of heartless, I can kill them easily, but if there is only one, then I just…I just can't for some reason, once it attacks I can, but if it's just standing there, I can't picture killing it. It makes me feel so…guilty."

The neoshadow nodded, understanding, to a certain degree, what she was going through.

"So you think this is worth it Greg?"

"It may just be Nancy."

There was silence as the two walked down the hallway. Greg asked, "Nancy, you said one of your students was talking to it?"

Nancy sighed, "Yes, Mara."

"Is she the one who…"

"Yes."

"Well that explains it, the kid almost gets killed and yet she wants to make every nobody in existence her friend the minute she wakes, I swear I will never understand people like her."

"If it makes you feel better Greg, neither do I."

As they walked into the prison, Kevin sprang to his feet throwing a salute to Mr. Corban. Mara, on the other hand, was so engrossed with her conversation with Rain that Mr. Corban had to cough in order to get her attention. She too sprang to her feet throwing a salute. He saluted both of them and turned to Mara, "Making a new friend like that nobody Mara?"

Mara blushed, "Y-yes sir."

"Alright, I didn't want to do this, but know that this is for your own safety. For the remainder of the trip you will return to your quarters and while you will be allowed to mingle with the others, you will not tell them of this heartless, also you will not be allowed to visit it for the remainder of the trip.

"What!?!" Mara cried out.

"That is how it is to be Mara. If I hear that you have visited him, you will be confined to your room, understood?"

(But that's not fair!)

Mr. Corban turned to the cage, "What did you say heartless?"

Rain, for his credit, managed to still stand, but voice was barely above a whisper, (U-um, I-I said th-that's not f-fair?) he croaked.

"Not fair, NOT FAIR? I'll tell you what is 'not fair', your kind destroying worlds, your kind butchering thousands of innocent souls, your kind simply fucking up different worlds. Do you think that the lives lost to your kind will say it's fair that they were killed? Will their loved ones say so? How about their sons and daughters? So next time you say something is not fair, take a hard look at yourself, capuche?"

During Mr. Corban's rant the man had advanced toward Rain's cage and was now at the bars. As he had progressed, Rain had backed away and was now at the other side of the cage, crouching down on the floor, and shaking helplessly.

"I said do you understand, creature?"

(Y-Yes sir.) Rain croaked.

Mr. Corban smiled, "Good now then, Mara go to your dorm, you need some rest. You two stay here and attend to its needs, which will no doubt only be basic needs."

Mara walked to the door, pausing to wave good-bye to Rain before she departed from sight. Mr. Corban left as well, closing the door behind him.

Ms. Pollock sighed, "Well, guess we have just been promoted to babysitters, just another grand achievement in my life."

"You said it ma'am."

Mara meanwhile was walking briskly toward her dorm, upset over the new turn of events. As she walked, thoughts slowly swirled inside her head. _It wasn't like I was doing anything wrong. Since when is talking a crime, I've talked to different people before, some of them not keybladers and I never got punished for it! Hell some of them later turned out to be not the best of friends but I've never been punished for it. Rain isn't even dangerous!_ But the real question she asked herself was why everyone viewed Rain as nothing other than an unintelligent creature. They heard him talk, heard him give his opinions, maybe it was because they had a prejudice toward his kind? All she knew was that, before they returned to the academy, she would make sure to see Rain again.

Please R&R. What will Mara think up of? How will Rain cope without Mara? Tune in next time. I'm going to be going back and naming my chapters as well as reformatting my earlier chapters.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sorry about the long delay in posting, had a lot of stuff to do this weekend. Anyway here's the next chapter in my story, hope you enjoy!

Rain was depressed, and extremely bored. Without Mara he really had no one to talk to, he had trying to start a conversation with the woman, but she just was either too tuned into the book she was reading or she was trying to ignore him, but he was pretty sure it was the first. He had tried to also talk to the one Mara said was Kevin, but anytime he did, the boy would simply reply with a sarcastic remark the first few times he tried, then he simply ignored Rain the rest of the time.

Rain looked again at the book and yearned to ask whether they had more books on the ship, although he was too afraid to ask. Instead, he decided to focus on his memories of when he first learned to read. Although Rain did not remember his birth he found early in his life he could do things the others couldn't and one of those was reading.

_Might as well try_, he thought. Rain looked up, mentally composed what he would say, and began.

(U-Um, ma'am?)

The woman looked up at the heartless, "Yes heartless, what is it?"

(Um, I was wondering…er…are they anymore books… o-on board?)

Kevin looked at him, "You can read?"

Rain nodded and Kevin broke into laughter, "I'll believe it when I see it."

The woman looked down at her book and tossed it into the cage. Rain quickly reached down and dusted it off as best as he could, "Read it." She said.

(W-what?)

"If you can read that one page to me, then I'll get you some books."

Rain looked down at the book and opened it, he looked up at the woman, who scowled at him, "Well, just choose a place and read already!"

Rain gulped and looked down at the page he had opened up to and began, (…while Roger had been deciding which case to take, he also was thinking about his integrity…) Rain continued to read for a few more minutes before the woman indicated he should stop. Rain looked up and saw that she held out her hand expectantly, looking down at the book he handed it back. Placing the book on her chair, she stood up and walked out the door. Rain waited, twiddling his thumbs, and every so often glancing at the door. _Finally_, she came back with at least five books in her hands.

She walked to the door and dropped them on the ground. Rain scrambled to them picking them up, dusting them off, and making sure that none of the pages had bent. Stacking them straight and neat Rain picked the first one up and read the title; _The Creatures Almanac: How to Identify a Heartless._ Rain cocked his head and picked up the next one; _How to Slay a Heartless: The Guide to Survival for Non-Keybladers_. Rain groaned and looked at the other three; two had titles at least hinting that they had something to do with either killing a heartless or going into detail just how stupid they were. Rain looked at the last book and felt a sense of relief, the title did not mention anything about heartless or death, so Rain opened up to the first page.

Dear reader, by picking up this book you have just shown that you wish to understand how a Keyblade chooses its owner, how the blade – in a way – can sometimes act of its own accord, and the history of these magnificent blade as well as the tragedy associated with them. We will begin first with history….

Mara sighed, she was yet again sitting alone in her room on her bed, and sure her friends had tried to socialize with her, but were quickly turned away by her moody attitude. Ever since she left Rain, she felt a sort of … feeling in her chest, like something just wasn't right. She had tried to see Rain once already, but one of the guards had found her and had escorted her back to the cafeteria. Although they did not know why they were guarding the way to the prison cages, they still had strict orders to patrol those hallways, and so they did. More than once other students came up to her asking what had happened after the battle, many had been heading back to the ship when Mr. Corban had rode past them on his bike, and curiosity had affected everyone's spirit. Although she did not talk, rumors began to fly inside the ship. Some said that a prisoner had been captured and that was why the prison cages were being guarded; others expanded this rumor saying that the prisoner was one who had sold himself to darkness. Others said that Mr. Corban had found a new keyblader and was keeping him in a secluded area and was no doubt telling him why the keyblades had come to him as well as what they did at the academy.

Through it all Mara kept her mouth shut, it was difficult, but she managed to endure. How she wanted to tell someone of her feelings, how the way they treated Rain was wrong, how she wished she could be there, helping the heartless, but she knew she couldn't. Suddenly the door opened and a young eighteen year old black haired girl entered. She wore black pants, with a black shirt with a left sleeve, the right one had been torn off. She had her hail in a ponytail, which was held by a black band and wore a black necklace around her neck and a black charm bracelet around her left wrist.

Mara looked up, "Hey Robin."

Robin smiled, "Hey Mara, doing okay?"

"Yeah, just a little tired, that's all."

"You must have been sapped to skip out lunch _and_ dinner."

"I suppose so."

Robin frowned, "Mara, what's really the matter. Ever since you got back, you've been depressed. Did something happen after we left?"

Mara sighed, "No, I- I can't tell, Mr. Corban made me promise not to."

Robin sat on the bed next to her and allowed Mara to lean on her, hugging her. "Look, if you need to get anything off your chest, just tell me."

"I can't."

"Mr. Corban wouldn't find out." She lifted Mara's head so she was eye level with her, "I promise I will not tell a soul anything said in this room."

"It's not that. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you, it's something you have to see."

"So let's go then." Robin said, rising up and grabbing Mara's hand.

Mara pulled it away, "The guards are patrolling the hallways Robin, how will we get past…"

Robin placed a finger on her lips, "Don't worry, I know a trick or tow how to get around without getting caught."

"Are you sure this is sanitary Robin?"

"Hey I've been traveling these for a good three years and you don't see me dying."

Both girls were in the air vents, which happened to be coated with dust and the carcasses of dead insects. Robin was in front of Mara and had been moving forward when she suddenly stopped.

"Hey what gives Robin?"

"Um, we're at an intersection."

"And…?"

"Well…. I can't remember which path leads to the cages."

"You said you've been in these hundreds of times!" Mara shouted.

"Quiet Mara! These vents amplify sound!" Robin whispered angrily.

"So what now?!" Mara sarcastically whispered.

"We can choose one, but one of them will circle back and lead us back here, another leads to the kitchen and the last will lead to the cages. I know left is the circling one, but I don't know about the other paths."

"When in doubt go straight."

"Alright, straight it is."

Rain meanwhile had become quite engrossed in his reading and had read half the book already. He slept for… well, he didn't know how long but he knew it was long. He woke up the next day (or at least he thought it was a day) and had walked about a bit before continuing his reading. When he had awoken he saw that the Kevin and the woman had left and came back with colorful things on white circles. He had never seen the items before and inquired what they were. Luckily the woman was in a good mood and said it was called food. Rain had never seen food before, but it was evident that the two enjoyed it as they consumed the food with their mouths. Rain had seen his superiors eat before, but they had eaten heartless that had not been able to complete their jobs. He briefly wondered if the food they ate was alive, but quickly dismissed the notion as a fantasy.

While he had read a majority of the book, most of it simply was nonsense to him. The book often made references to people and places he was not familiar with, and there were no footnotes. While he did recognize some terms from previous books he had read, he still could not make enough connections to understand the true purpose of the text. In truth Rain was not reading for enjoyment, he was reading to pass the time. As he read he found a sort of peace within himself, he was tuned off to the outside world, meaning he no longer felt lonely or anxious, which was okay with him. If only it stayed that way for the rest of the trip.

"Hey, I think we just found it!" Robin whispered excitedly.

"We did?" Mara pushed her way up until both girls were side by side, squished together by the narrow air vents.

Mara looked around, they were in the room, but she saw stacks of boxes hiding the vent from where she had been stationed. "Does anyone know this is here?"

"I think they used to. Those boxes are just crap that they don't need on the ship so they packed stuff up and never even bothered taking those things off. The air vent has been covered up ever since. Now if you will allow me." Robin reached into her pocket and took out a small pocket knife, placing her hands between the bars; she quickly found the screws and began to twist them off. After a couple of seconds, and three screws later, she gripped the bars and allowed the bars to twist so that it was hanging by a lone screw.

"How did you do that?"

"Well, when you come from a world where you need to get into places where huge cats simply cannot get in."

"So, let's go!"

"Hold it, I know from experience if two people try to get out of a vent at the same time, clothing is ripped and skin is sheared from bone, so get back behind me. I'll catch you when you drop out, okay?"

"Alright."

Mara began to wiggle back, frowned and put one hand on the vent wall and tired to push herself back she stopped and looked at Robin, "Um, we seem to have a problem."

Robin groaned, "_Please_ don't tell me that you are stuck."

"Alright, I won't."

Robin let out a huff of air and thought, "Okay, I'll twist myself sideways. That should give you enough room to slide back."

Robin began to twist her body and then slumped down, "Shit, these damn walls are way too small! Okay I'll push you while you also push back on me. That should get you back far enough for you to be behind me."

"Okay."

The two girls then began the long process of attempting to free themselves from the vent's grasp.

The red lights signaled only a few seconds before the attack hit. Ms. Pollock had been looking up from her book, and had seen the red light. She dropped her book and ran to the wall, grabbing onto one of the bolted cages just as the ship was hit. Kevin was thrown from his seat and hit the ground on his back. Rain had been engrossed in reading and had dropped his book as his back slammed against the cage bars. Mara had just managed to free herself when both spilled from vent. Robin landed on her chest, while Mara landed on Robin's back. Mara looked around, "What was that!"

Robin threw Mara off her and stood up, wiping dirt from her hands, "That was an attack." Suddenly loud sirens blared and Mara quickly grabbed at her ears. "AND THOSE ARE THE EMERGENCY SIRENS!" Robin shouted over the blaring noise.

Rain stood up dazed from the impact, (W-what…)

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Ms. Pollock shouted. She grabbed Kevin, "GUARD THE PRISONER, MAKE SURE NOTHING HAPPENS TO HIM! I'M GOING TO GO BOLSTER THE DEFENSES, DO NOT LEAVE THE ROOM UNLESS IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!" She reached into her pocket and took out a set of keys. "IF THIS ROOM IS BREACHED UNLOCK HIS DOOR AND GO TO THE RED ROOM. YOU UNDERSTAND?" Kevin dumbly nodded.

Ms. Pollock ran out the door, leaving a dumbfounded Kevin in the room. Mara and Robin walked out from behind the boxes and saw Kevin standing there. Mara walked up, still clutching her ears, "KEVIN, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU OR…." Kevin simply stood there. "KEVIN?" The alarms turned off and Mara looked around, "The attacks over?"

Robin sighed, "No, the alarms turn off after a certain period so we can hear each other again; they only go for a certain time so that everyone will at least be awakened by them." She looked at Rain and frowned, "The POW is a heartless? Is _this_ why you've been moppy, it's a _freaking _heartless! Sometimes I will not understand you Mara."

Rain looked at her, (Are you a friend of Mara's?)

Robin backed up, "What the…. Did that just talk to me!?"

Mara grabbed the keys from Kevin's hands and ran to the cage, "Yes and _his_ name is Rain."

"Um… okay. This is so going against every single thing I've been taught about heartless", Robin groaned.

Mara opened the cage and Rain walked out. She quickly hugged Rain and began to look over his body, "They didn't hurt you did they?"

(No, I just read most of the time. Why?)

Mara sighed, relieved. "Just checking."

The ship suddenly rocked causing the four to fall down. Robin got up and grabbed onto a nearby cage, "I suggest we get to the red room on the double. If one of those shots goes through the windows, we're all dead."

Mara looked up, "Where's the red room."

"It's not far away. I can lead you from here." Robin looked at Rain, "Are you _sure_ he's harmless?"

Mara sighed, "Yes Robin, he is. Now let's go."

"Right!"

As they ran out, Kevin was still rooted there. Mara ran back and grabbed Kevin's shoulder, "Come on Kevin, we need to get out of here now!"

"I'm scared Mara."

Mara raised an eyebrow, "Scared?"

"I've never been on vessel that's been attacked. What if we die?"

Mara looked at him and slapped him across the face.

Kevin staggered back, blinking.

"We will be dead if you just stand here, now come on!"

The two ran out of the room, locking the air seal tight door behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"FIRE!"

The sound of 20 cannons located on various parts of the ship shot out beams of light, hitting the heartless ships that had swarmed around the larger transport. Many were disintegrated, but some had managed to swerve around the beams and shot at the hull of the ship.

The ship shook as it was hit multiple times. Mr. Corban was in the commander's seat at the back of the bridge. Ten operators were seated in front of monitors, with each monitor showing at least twenty gummi ships and the status of each one. The operators were had microphones connected to their ears that was connected to the ship's communication systems. The operators were tapping on the screens, hitting various ships and then speaking into their microphones. Mr. Corban frowned and tapped a key on his own keyboard, one of the administrators that was studying the ship's condition ran up to him and saluted.

"Yes, sir?"

"Have all cannons fire on the ships in front of us, and send out a call to the pilots… five minutes."

The administrator saluted again, "Yes Sir!"

He ran back to his post and began to type various commands at his station.

Mr. Corban sat back and watched as the heartless ships did a u-turn and began to rush toward the ship. "BRACE YOURSELVES!"

"Well this is great, look around, a wall in front of us, and only two halls to the sides of us, one which will no doubt lead to certain doom, and the other leading to salvation. So Ms. Know-it-all, which way?"

Robin huffed, "Geez Kevin, I don't know. Oh, how about looking at the directions!" She pointed to the two hallways. There were signs on the wall indicating various rooms and their direction. At the very bottom in red print was the word 'RED ROOM: FOR EMERGENY ONLY!' "Oh, did not see that at all."

"Freshmen", Robin muttered.

The four ran down the right hallway and before they knew what was happening they were thrown against the wall as a hole was blasted through the hull of the ship.

Groaning, Robin staggered up and saw that the emergency sealing had quickly sealed up the breech caused by the blast that had hit the ship. She clutched the wall and walked forward slowly, coughing from the dust that had been thrown up. She saw Mara laying on the ground, and quickly bent down, placing her palm against the girl's nostrils. She sighed in relief as she felt air beat against her hand. Looking ahead she saw Kevin staggering up and walked as quickly as she could, although there was a sharp pain in her left leg. Kevin was had managed to sit up against the wall and looked at her, "What was that?" he gasped.

"One of the enemy ships…must have fired." She muttered. She looked around and frowned, "We need…to get out…. Of this section." She gasped and lurched back to where Mara was and picked her up.

Kevin turned to her, "Why?"

"The emergency system…will close this section….with emergency doors. They will be….air-tight sealed. So….if you don't want to suffocate…follow me."

A loud computerized voice suddenly spoke as red lights and alarms went off, WARNING SECTION TWO AREA THRITY-THREE HAS BEEN BREACHED. PLEASE EXIT THE AREA OR YOU WILL BE TRAPPED. EXIT WHITHIN THE NEXT THIRTY MINUTES. REPEAT THRITY MINUTES UNTIL LOCKDOWN OF SECTION TWO AREA THRITY-THREE.

With Mara on one shoulder, she began to walk the direction they had headed. Mara stirred in her grasp, "W-what?"

"Don't worry Mara. We're safe." Replied Robin as her breathing began to recover.

"W-where's…where's Rain?"

"We are almost…"

Mara began to struggle in Robin's grasp, "R-Rain!" she cried.

"Dammit Mara keep still!" Mara struggled even harder.

Robin gritted her teeth and passed Mara to Kevin, "Hold her and get to the exit; I'll get the freaking heartless."

Robin had recovered enough so that she could walk without using the wall for support, although she did feel some minor pain in her legs. She was soon at the area where the blast had hit and began to look around for a black shape. She finally saw Rain's head and upper body sticking out from the debris and headed toward him moving the rubble. Rain groaned as he regained consciousness and quickly squeezed his eyes in pain, (Wh-what happened.)

"The wall was shot." Robin muttered, fully engrossed in freeing Rain.

Rain looked around, (Where are the others?)

"They went on ahead. Look Rain, once I get you out of this crap, run. Don't stop because the area will lock down soon and we'll be stuck. Got it?"

The heartless nodded his head as the last piece of rubble was moved.

Robin turned and began to walk down the hallway as Rain pushed himself up. Red lights went off and alarm sirens as well. The heartless grabbed his head, trying to shut out the noise. Robin called out to him, but unfortunately could not be heard. She raced over and grabbed Rain by his wrist and began to drag him. A loud computerized voice began to speak, "WARNING ONLY TWENTY MINUTES UNTIL LOCK-DOWN. REPEAT TWENTY MINUTES UNTIL LOCK-DOWN."

Robin sighed, "Okay we have plenty of time. Come on Rain."

She turned and walked down the corridor, Rain hobbled after her. Robin turned around, sighed and grabbed Rain's arm, put it on her shoulder and helped the heartless toward the exit.

"Commander multiple areas of the ship have been breached, what should we do?"

"How many?"

"At least a dozen sir."

"Okay, lock them down, make sure that the area is sealed, we can't breach points this early."

"But sir, what if there are personnel there?"

"There aren't, they are either in the red room, or have found a panic room. I highly doubt someone would be wandering the halls during a space battle."

Robin and Rain were about halfway to the exit when the computerized voice spoke again, "WARNING, AREA IS BEING LOCKED-DOWN. REPEAT AREA IS BEING LOCKED-DOWN."

Robin's eyes popped open, "WHAT!? Shit we had more time!"

Suddenly a whishing noise could be heard, turning around Robin saw the corridor behind them being cut off as walls shot down from the ceiling, completely blocking the hall.

"RUN!" she screamed as she turned and began to run down toward the exit. Rain at first, was confused why she was running, but he turned around and began to run as fast as he could after her. The whishing sound was now louder as more and more of the corridor was locked-down. Rain looked ahead and saw a doorway.

Robin jumped through the door and landed on the other side with a thud. Rain barely passed the door as the last wall slide down right behind the doorway. Both were gasping heavily from their run. Robin quickly recovered, jumping up and looked around for Kevin. "Must have gone on…" she whispered.

She turned to Rain, "Alright heartless, we keep going."

Rain gave a pleading look, (Can't we rest a bit?)

"No, we already wasted too much time. Let's get moving."

Rain groaned and attempted to lift himself off the floor, but his legs gave way and he fell on his back. Robin sighed and picked Rain up, "You know, you are the most pathetic heartless I have ever seen." (Sorry.)

"Just come on."

Turning she began walking down the next hallway where, hopefully, Kevin and Mara were.

"Let me see the map."

"No!"

"Kevin, just let me see where we are!"

"I know where I am!"

"Oh? Then how come we're lost!"

"I know exactly where I am!"

"Then where's the red room?!"

"It'll be the next corner!"

"You said that two corners ago!"

"Just give me it!"

Mara attempted to grab the ship map that Kevin was holding, though to no success.

"Kevin we have these maps for a reason, to allow us not to get lost, which you seem to be doing!"

"Fine here!"

Mara took the map and began to look at it, "Kevin?"

"Yes?"

"You were looking at it upside down dufus! We're at…."

Mara frowned, "Great we have to go all the way back and take the left fork. Great job!"

Kevin looked away, muttering under his breath, and trudged after Mara.

"Dammit! Where are they?" Robin scratched her head and looked around the corner yet again.

Rain looked around uncomfortably and spoke up, (Um, Ma'am?)

"Huh? Oh, what?"

(I-I'm sorry about before, about not…um…getting up fast enough.)

Robin sighed, "You know, you may be pathetic, but you are better company than any other heartless I have come in contact with."

(R-really?)

"Yeah, they tried to kill me."

Robin sighed, "I don't know why the hell I'm saying this, but don't worry about it, some people just… aren't fast."

(Oh, okay.)

Silence brewed as Robin yet again looked down the hallway. "I don't think they're coming. Alright, I'm going to go look for them. Now Rain I need you to get in here."

Walking to the wall she punched it, and a small door opened. "This isn't the red room, but a smaller panic room. You should fit."

(But why not the red room?)

"You're a heartless. What most keybladers' common sense tells them to do is to hack and slash at heartless, then ask questions. Got it?"

Rain nodded his head and crawled inside.

"I'm closing the door now, alright. No matter what happens, don't come out. There's a red button somewhere in there, when you here someone knock six times, push it. If you hear someone trying to get in, don't push it, unless you hear six knocks, got it?"

(What's a knock?)

Robin sighed, and tapper her fist against the wall, "That's a knock."

(Okay.)

"Just press the button and the door will close, alright. Don't worry, I'll be back."

Rain looked around until he saw the red button right above his head, he reached up and pressed it. The door slid shut and encased him in darkness.

Robin watched as the door closed and sighed, "Please don't let him be claustrophobic." She muttered as she took off down the hallway.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Sorry for the lack of updates, have been busy with school and getting kicked in the ass by my calculus class. But instead of hearing my ranting against the school system, here's chapter 11. Enjoy!

Rain looked around uncomfortably in the darkness. He had never been too fond of the dark, the only reason he was not freaking out was that he had spent so much time near it. The heartless world was completely surrounded in darkness, but not to the point that he couldn't see in front of him. This room was pitch black. Rain suddenly had an idea. Placing out his hands he began to feel the ceiling again, trying to find the button. Surely he could control how much the door opened, he would only open it a little so some light could get in. As his hands searched he felt something. Confident it was the button he pressed it, and a bright light flashed in front of his eyes. The heartless gave a startled cry and fell backward, clutching at his eyes. As his eyes began to adjust to the light, he looked up and saw that the ceiling was suddenly throwing out sunlight. He frowned and reached up to touch the light, and flinched back as he felt an intense heat.

(Strange. Well at least I have light.) He said happily.

"Dock Officer, how are the shields?"

"Sir, shields are at thirty percent power, I'm not sure we can…"

There was a loud rumble throughout the ship as the vessel shook.

"Engineers what the hell was that?!"

One of the engineers looked up with a pale face, "Sir, they dropped a payload. It got through the shields."

"Shit, contact the guards in section forty, have them stop the breach, send out an alarm to the panic rooms! We need to be ready."

"Damn, couldn't even be in the general vicinity. _Oh, we know the way, we won't get lost_. Complete bullshit."

An alarm sounded catching Robin by surprise.

"All personal, be warned a payload has been dropped. Repeat, payload has been dropped."

Robin slapped her face, "They probably don't even know what a payload is. Wait, calm down Robin, they went over it the week before, don't panic. Besides, they can't be that stupid to have forgotten already."

"Kevin what's a payload again?" Mara asked.

"I don't know, beats me." He replied shrugging.

As Robin rounded the corner, she heard metal clanging. Peeking around the corner she saw two seniors and there jutting out of the wall was the payload, a shuttle with an open entrance which heartless were streaming out of. She looked and saw that one of the keybladers was completely surrounded by heartless; the other was slashing through the mob attempting to get through to his comrade.

Robin took a deep breath, and jumped out, calling to her keyblade. A sinister black and purple blade appeared in her hand. She swung it in the air and a black arch of energy fired toward the group of heartless cutting those down caught in its path. This was enough to distract the heartless around the keyblader and allowing her to escape. The three stood side by side and faced the mob. There was a slight pause before the many heartless charged forward. The trio swung their blades, slicing heartless left and right until soon the corridor was empty. The two turned to her and the male spoke, "Thank you for your help, but you need to get to a panic room junior."

"I'm looking for two fish, they were supposed to meet me near the red room, but they didn't show, you haven't seen them, have you?"

"I'm sorry to say we haven't, we came from sector forty and saw no sign of them."

The girl spoke up, "We would like to help, but other breaches have occurred. We need to cover those areas."

They then ran around Robin and ran down a corner, disappearing from sight.

Robin sighed, chose a hallway, and continued on.

"This is going just great!"

"Shh, Kevin, they'll hear us!"

Kevin and Mara looked around the corner yet again and saw the same wyvern heartless guarding the hallway.

Kevin began to pace, "Dammit, nothings there! Are they retarded or something! Retarded fucking heartless."

"They sense us Kevin, and once we get our blades, they kill us in an instant. We need to wait until they leave."

"We can take them down Mara, it's not like there two hundred of them, there are only two, we have a fair fight."

"I don't know Kevin, what if they call…"

"They won't if we take them out fast enough! Now are you with me, or do I go out alone."

Mara frowned, "Fine."

"Okay, one…two…now!"

Both ran out and jumped up to the flying heartless. While the heartless had been caught by surprise, they had quick reflexes and flew up causing the warriors to miss their targets. One of the wyverns raised its head and let out a loud screech.

"Shit!"

"Run!"

As they raced down the hallway two shadows sprang up, blocking their way. Five air pirates appeared as well as two wizards.

"Um, Kevin? What do we do?"

Kevin frowned and held out his hand, his blade appearing in it a second later. He quickly got into his battle position, "We fight!"

As Robin continued down the hallway, she heard the sounds of battle. Her face froze, "Oh…please don't be…". Without another thought she raced down the hallway and saw Kevin and Mara on the their last leg, pretty much beaten into submission.

"_Oh no Robin, you won't be a babysitter, you get to stay on the ship, nothing bad happens on the ship._ When I get back Julias, oh you're going to get your ass kicked."

2 minutes later….

"…oh you get to rest _all_ the time. There's no work involved at all my ass." She looked behind her and frowned, "Hurry up."

Mara and Kevin were following behind, sporting bruises and cuts. "Can't we…"

"No, ya'll are going to the medical center, now! Hurry up, we don't want to get ambushed!"

Mara and Kevin groaned as they trudged after Robin.

Rain sighed as he looked around, there was nothing for the heartless to do. He would have opened the door already, but Robin told him not to, so he didn't. He pulled his knees to his chest and wondered what he could do, he wasn't tired, so sleep was not an option. As he looked around yet again, he heard sounds outside. Rain paused and pressed up against the door, trying to hear what was going on, as first he heard noises, talking, and then cries of surprise. Rain pushed back from the door as he heard steel clanging against the walls and high pitched noises. The noise quickly died down and Rain approached the door yet again, he was pretty sure that whatever was out there was gone now. He groped around until he found the button and pressed it, the door whooshed open and light beamed in. Rain squinted his eyes and looked around, two warriors were on the ground; their bodies were not moving. As Rain reached for the button to close the door a black shape reached in and grabbed him by the throat pushing him against a wall in the small room.

(Well, well, well, if it isn't the traitor!)

Rain tried to break free of the grip but the shadow's hand tightened its hold, (Oh Rain, everyone died in the battle, everyone but you, so how come you're alive and well on a ship belonging to the light?)

The hand squeezed tighter, (You won't have time to answer I'm afraid, because I now will end you here and now.)

Rain twisted his face away, (Oh Rain, always scared, always whimpering at each order given to him, I am doing you a favor by ending your existence. Be sure to thank me.)

Rain struggled for freedom, (P-please Decimus. D-don't…), the hand squeezed harder, (Now, you will join your comrades in oblivion and face their wrath.) The shadow pulled back its hand ready to thrust it into the neoshadow's chest when it screamed and disappeared into a black mist. Rain looked up and saw a black blade where the shadow had been. Robin crouched down, "Rain, let's get you back to the cells, the battle's over."

Rain sat there, too shocked to move. Robin sighed and reached out to Rain, "Come on, the lockdown will end soon, and trust me, you don't want a good fifty apprentices slicing and dicing your body."

Rain looked up and grabbed Robin's hand pulling himself out of the room. Instead of heading back the way they came, they walked to a different door and Robin pushed a button on the wall, the door opened and Robin pushed Rain inside. Once both were in, Robin looked at rows of buttons that were inside the room and pushed one, the doors closed and opened, but to a different location. Rain looked around amazed, (How?)

"Teleportation system, can get you anywhere on the ship. It was shut down during the battle, to prevent heartless from spreading around the ship. Now just follow me."

Although Rain did not know where they were, all he did was follow Robin and pretty soon they had found the path that they took when running to- well, wherever they were going. As they walked in the older woman was in the room again, reading her book. "Alright heartless, back in the cage."

Rain nodded his head and stepped inside, the door was locked behind him.

Rain looked around, (Um, where's Mara?)

"She's in the clinic."

(The what?)

"It's a place you go when you're injured."

(She's hurt!?)

"Relax, minor bruises and cuts. She'll be out once we land at the academy."

Rain nodded his head again and sat down.

Robin turned to Ms. Pollock, "So, how far are we off?"

Ms. Pollock shrugged, "About a good two hours."

"Okay." As she turned to leave, Ms. Pollock grabbed her. "Oh no you don't, just because you're a junior doesn't mean you're exempt from guard duty. Now no leaving this room."

Robin sighed and grabbed a chair, an extremely annoyed look on her face.

"Not my problem that you decided to spy and see what was hiding in here. You know the saying, curiosity makes the keyblader work when she could play."

Robin groaned and dropped her head, "This is so going to be the longest two hours of my life!"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

It had been a very long two hours indeed, and with nothing to pass the time, Robin was reduced to looking around the area for anything that previous guards had mistakenly thrown away. While Ms. Pollock had offered to get her some books from the library, Robin was not a big reader and declined the offer. Rain was enjoying the time however and quickly became engrossed in his book again. Just when it seemed that Robin could no longer fill the void with anything to do, the intercom buzzed to life. "ATTENTION ALL, WE ARE CURRENTLY ENTERING ACADEMY AIR SPACE. STUDENTS PLEASE PACK YOUR BELONGINGS AND REPORT TO THE EXIT RAMP. ALL STAFF PLEASE HEAD TO YOUR SPECIFIED AREAS TO BEGIN CLEAN UP. THAT IS ALL."

Robin got up and headed to the door. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"What do you mean? I'm packing my stuff."

"You're on guard duty until Mr. Corban says otherwise, now sit your ass down and guard."

Robin groaned loudly and sat back on her chair.

For the next thirty minutes, the multitude of keybladers rushed off the ship, ready to tell their friends about their first training mission and the dangers they had to face as well as exaggerate a detail or two of their own heroism. Soon the noises of the crowd faded and there was complete and utter silence.

"Can we leave now!?"

"No."

"Dammit!"

While Robin fumed over her unfortunate situation, Mara and Kevin also found themselves in awkward positions. "What do you mean we can't leave the ship!?"

"Sorry Kevin, Mr. Corban's orders. He said that you are not to leave the ship until he meets with you and explains how you are to handle the situation, he said you would understand what he was talking about."

Mara grabbed Kevin by the arm before he could talk, "Hey, Kev, let's just stay here, we'll just be a few minutes late, that's all."

Kevin sighed and sat back down.

"Alright, now you two stay here, there's some food in the pantry there when you get hungry. If you are found anywhere else instead of in the clinic, you will be escorted back, is that understood?"

Mara nodded her head, while Kevin muttered under his breath.

The senior walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Kevin was laying on the bed groaning and Mara swung her legs, "Weellll, at least we aren't crowded in the de-briefing room."

Kevin was silent, "Um, you want something to eat, Kev? It has been some time since dinner."

Kevin sighed, "You don't get it Mara do you? We are now part of something big, and this thing is secret, meaning that everywhere we go we're going to be watched, all of our conversations recorded, hell they probably just bugged our phones to…."

"And your point Kevin?"

"My point is that our lives just got really complicated really quickly and now we are in a ton of shit."

"Oh come on, stop dramatizing!"

Both did not realize just how right Kevin was.

There was a tap at the door, Ms. Pollock frowned and went to the door, opening it only slightly, "Ms. Pollock, Mr. Corban has requested all in this room to come to his chambers, and he said to tell you not to worry, everyone is already off the ship."

"Very well, thank you."

Ms. Pollock closed the door and went to the sleeping Robin, frowning she pulled up her leg and kicked it out suddenly, knocking over the chair along with Robin.

Robin got up and rubbed her head, "Dammit, why couldn't you just ask?"

"Because it's not as fun."

Ms. Pollock walked over to the cage and frowned, Rain was sound asleep, but his chest was moving in and out. She frowned and looked at his face more closely. "Hey Robin, heartless don't breath do they?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Just asking."

Ms. Pollock raped on the bars loudly, causing the heartless to awaken, "Come on heartless, we're going."

Rain nodded his head sleepily and walked to the now open cage door.

"Make sure you have everything Robin, you probably won't come back to this room in a long time."

Double checking to make sure nothing was left; Ms. Pollock led the group through hallway after hallway, until they got to an elevator. The ride was a good five seconds and another minute later, they arrived at their destination.

Rain for his part was not sure where they were going, he had tried asking on the way, but the only answer he got was that he would know soon enough. As they had walked, Rain couldn't help but notice that he was going increasingly anxious. So far he had been treated decently, but what now? He had heard stories from others about the terrible things keybladers did to heartless, and while he was certain he had not done enough to anger anyone, he didn't think that was a good enough excuse for them not to do… well, whatever they did to his kind.

It was too soon that they arrived at the door. The older warrior went up to the door and pounded her fist against it. There was a clicking sound and then the door opened with a hiss. The room inside was purely white, the only colors adorning it were colored spots on the back wall. Seeing he was not going in without initiative, Ms. Pollock pushed Rain in, closing the door after Robin walked in.

Robin whistled looking around, "Like what you did with the place, Sir. It's so… white."

The man standing at the desk stood up frowning, "Shut it, Ms. Cera. Now you two sit here, Ms. Pollock let me speak with you for a moment."

The warrior bowed forward and walked with Mr. Corban outside the room. The door hissed behind them and the room became silent. After five minutes Robin began to swing her feet, and after six minutes Robin got up and walked toward the plaques.

Rain looked up, (Um, Robin, I don't think you should….)

Robin laughed, "Oh, come on Rain. It isn't like he's going to find out. I'll just sit back down and he'll be none the wiser. Now let's see, Instructor of the year… Administrator's choice award… Most improved Keyblader…"

"How about you see the Most Asses kicked award while you're at it?"

Robin turned around and saw that both keybladers were back in the room, one had a very dissatisfied frown on his face.

"M-Mr. Corban I-I was just…"

"Poking into where you don't belong. You know curiosity killed the cat."

Robin yelped and flew back into her seat.

Mr. Corban walked back to his desk. "Ms. Cera, you are to go with Ms. Pollock who will debrief you on how the situation is to be handled. Ask any question you have then, now…" his hands pounded onto the table, "… get out of my office."

Robin gulped, nodding quickly and speed walked out of the room. Ms. Pollock followed after her, the door hissed closed again and silence enveloped the room yet again. Mr. Corban reached under his desk and took out a glass bottle and a glass cup, and began pouring the white liquid from the bottle into his cup. Mr. Corban suddenly paused and looked at Rain, "You want some?" Before Rain could respond Mr. Corban chuckled, "Oh, that's right your kind don't have mouths do they? A sensitive topic for you I presume?"

Mr. Corban continued pouring as Rain squirmed in his seat. He didn't know why, but he felt extremely uncomfortable with this man. Mr. Corban stopped pouring and sighed, taking a slip of the vodka from his glass Mr. Corban began, "Now, Rain, is it? I'll call you Thing for now. Of course you don't care what I call you because your kind have no hearts." Rain stayed silent and Mr. Corban smiled, "Good, Now Thing, you are a heartless, I am keyblader. You're probably wondering why you're here, hmm? Well, normally you would be dead by now, especially with a ship full of keybladers, but that's not the case here. You have a 'gift' as you know, you can talk to us, although I have no idea how in hell you can, but you can. I have told my… superior about this 'gift' and he wishes to meet you. You seem pretty docile, but I am a man who takes no chances."

Suddenly Mr. Corban's hands slammed onto the table causing Rain to jump. "Now listen to me heartless and listen well." He growled. "I will not take any chances with you. If you move in the wrong direction I will cut you down, if you don't do what I tell you I will cut you down, speak at the wrong time and I will cut you down, even move a finger at the wrong time and I will cut you down! YOU HEAR ME FILTH!"

Rain gulped and nodded, his body shaking with fear. Mr. Corban smiled and nodded, "Good, now you'll stay in your little pen until I take you out. Do what I say… or else. Understood?" Rain slowly nodded his head again and Mr. Corban grinned, "Good, now go outside and wait for Ms. Pollock. Rain didn't last a second and sprinted out of the room. Mr. Corban sat down, took another slip of his drink and began to read one of the papers on his desk.

Ms. Pollock sighed as she walked down the hallway. Robin, as usual had been very hard to deal with, but she had gotten through it nonetheless, so handling Rain wouldn't be that much for her. As she approached Mr. Corban's room she noticed Rain sitting next to the door. He quickly got up and looked at her. "Okay, let's go heartless." Rain barely nodded. Frowning she started walking back to the elevators, looking behind her she noticed Rain's head drooping. He looked… sad. Ms. Pollock frowned, she didn't know why she thought that, but she assumed it was simply the heartless' body language that told her. Soon both were in the elevator and heading back down. The only sound was Ms. Pollock's breathing.

The keyblader sighed, already regretting what she was about to do. "So, what's the problem?" Rain looked up, (What?). Yet again she sighed, "You're down from what I can tell. Let me guess he yelled at you?"

Rain lowered his head. Ms. Pollock frowned, "He does that to everyone, even me once in a while. Right now he doesn't know you, and neither do I. I may not be as mean as him, I may seem even friendly at this point to you, but at this point I know nothing about you, and until I find out what you really are, I won't trust my life to you or any crap like that." Rain looked up with a puzzled expression. She sighed again, "Look, I'm not good at this feeling stuff, okay? I never let feelings get in my way. So just pull yourself back together and deal with it for now, okay?"

Rain nodded, (Okay.) Ms. Pollock nodded, "Good". While the rest of the walk was silent, Rain was no longer moping and soon both were back at the prisoner room. Rain was ushered back into his cage and Ms. Pollock sat down and picked up her book.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Everything not owned by Disney or Square Einx is of my own creation. And if anything else belongs to someone already, well it's theirs too.

Chapter 13

According to Ms. Pollock they would be moving out in about five hours. Although Rain didn't know exactly what an hour was, let alone five of them, Ms. Pollock pointed to a circle on the wall with different numbers on it. There were two arrows coming out of the middle and Ms. Pollock told him that once the bigger arrow reached the two they would move out. The plan was supposed to be simple, according to the keyblader, when they would leave most of the keybladers would be asleep. It would also be very dark outside, so he would be able to move around without being seen. He just had to stay behind the two until they got to… well, wherever they were going. For the rest of time, she told him to sleep, he would need to rest so he wouldn't fall asleep on the way there.

He wasn't sure how long he slept but he felt something shaking. Blinking his eyes he got up and saw Ms. Pollock opening the cage door. "Come on heartless, time to go." Rain nodded and they both were soon at the elevator again. However, this time they were going down. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. The hallways on this floor were much wider than the others and there were many doors on the walls, each one having a number next to it. Ms. Pollock explained that the rooms were temporary quarters for keybladers. Since this ship was slower than the others, there was usually a two day delay before the ship could reach the nearest planet.

With the talk of keybladers a light bulb suddenly went off in Rain's head. (Um, Ms. Pollock, where's Mara?) The keyblader frowned, "She's already off the ship. She was debriefed before us, so she's probably in her room asleep." (Oh.) Ms. Pollock continued, "Anyway, just stick to what I told you. Stay a couple of feet behind us and if another keyblader approaches us, hide somewhere, okay?"

(Okay.) They continued walking for a few minutes before they entered a large open area, and standing in the center was Mr. Corban. He turned to them, "Wondering when you would show, okay fast and quick. Let's move out." Walking down the next hallway they soon encountered a big red door. Mr. Corban walked up and pressed a button on a nearby wall. The door opened up with a loud whooshing sound, catching Rain by surprise and causing him to stagger back. Mr. Corban laughed, "If you're scared this easily, I can't wait to see how you deal with my superior!" Rain gulped and wondered what the man meant by that.

As soon as Rain stepped out of the ship his eyes opened wide in amazement. The ship was parked next to a floating platform that seemed to extend over the sky. The sky was very dark, but down below were thousands of twinkling lights, all different colors. The lights were extended all over the surface and there were so many, it looked almost like a rainbow. Rain felt something touch his shoulder and he saw Ms. Pollock holding him, "Lovely isn't it?" Rain slowly nodded. "Come on, we have to go now." Rain followed wordlessly behind the keybladers, wondering when he could see the lights again.

Ms. Pollock looked back and sighed, "Why'd you have to be so hard on him Greg?" Mr. Corban huffed, "He's a heartless Nancy. They're all the same. The minute we turn our back on him, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll strike us down. Just you wait." Ms. Pollock sighed, "Greg, I know it's still fresh. Still it doesn't seem like the others, I have senses. You know that. I can sense this heartless means us no harm." "Appearances are deceiving Nancy." Yet again she sighed. "You're harboring what they did to your family, aren't you? Look I know it happened a couple years ago, but still, time has passed, if you just let go…" She didn't have time to finish as Mr. Corban grabbed her throat. He narrowed his eyes at her, "Don't tell me what to do." He pushed her down and continued walking. Rain jogged up and helped up the keyblader, (Are you okay?) Ms. Pollock rubbed her throat, "Yeah, just perfect." (Why did he do that?) "He's stressed right now; just don't try to piss him off, okay?"

Without waiting for his reply she took off after her superior with Rain following behind.

Luckily for the group there were no keybladers walking around, so they made the whole journey without having to resort to other measures. Eventually Rain was led to a building that was grey color with red wording at the top. Rain read the wording. The phase said CELL BLOCKS. Although Rain did not know what cell blocks meant, he felt a shiver of fear run through his body. He followed the wielders inside and saw rows of cages, like the one he had been in on the ship, except they were built into the walls. Most of the cages were empty, except for the occasional prisoner, so the building was eerily quiet. Rain followed after his guides, quickly becoming confused as they turned into different tunnels, seemed to go back though tunnels they had already passed, and went though doors that looked exactly the same until they finally reached an elevator. All three piled in and Mr. Corban put his body before a pad with numbers on it. Rain heard a series of beeps and clicks ending with the man fishing a card out of his pocket and pushing it into the wall. The elevator shook and then started to go down; as they descended none of the keybladers didn't even try to make eye contact with each other, lest start talking amongst themselves. Rain looked around, wanting to ask a question, but remembered Ms. Pollock warning and decided to keep to himself for now. The trip down took about five minutes before the elevator shook again and the doors opened. Mr. Corban led them down a hallway until they finally reached a door. Again he took out the same card and pushed it into the door. The door hissed open with a creak and Mr. Corban grabbed Rain. "In you go Thing." Rain fell down on the ground as the door slammed shut behind him. Mr. Corban walked back down the hallway without a second glance. Ms. Pollock looked back to the door, sighed, and hurried after her superior.

Rain groaned as he staggered up, rubbing the bruise that was starting to form on his head. He looked around seeing only darkness. Rising to his feet, Rain felt around, trying to find a light, but he sighed, seeing that there was no light to turn on. He walked over to a corner and curled up on the floor and tried to sleep. He tried every posture he could, and yet he just couldn't fall asleep. Rain sighed as he held his head, if only he had followed his orders he would not be in this predicament.

Flashback

(Well, had enough Rain?)

Rain was on his knees and elbows, long gashes were marked into his back. Rain looked up with pleading eyes, (Yes, please Krome.) Krome narrowed his eyes, (How do you address me?) Rain whimpered, (Sero Krome.) he croaked. In response Krome dug his claws deep into the crouching neoshadow's back, causing Rain to howl in pain. (Exactly.) He dislodged his claws, causing Rain to collapse on the floor. A swift kick sent Rain a good distance across the room, (ON YOUR KNEES AND ELBOWS RAIN OR I KICK YOU AGAIN!) Rain quickly staggered back up, whimpering helplessly. Krome began to pace in front of him. (Now Rain you were given a very special gift. Not many do. You let your meal escape, and you helped it. Why?) Rain whimpered (S-she wa-was scared?) Krome dug his claws into his back once more causing the neoshadow to emit a cry of pain. Krome unhooked his claws and watched the heartless shaking form the pain. (Pitiful, I've tired everything with you. Do you know how many times I've said no to an invasion? Do you know how many times I turned down an offer to feed to teach you? Do you know how many would kill for a meal of your quality and YOU JUST LET IT RUN AWAY?!) Krome kicked the neoshadow across the floor. Rain groaned, but quickly got back into his submissive posture. (Now Rain, I'm willing to give you one more chance, because I know you can do this. You will be going on your first true mission today. None of that training crap, but you get to hunt real live targets. Everyone will be watching so don't disappoint. You will be paired with Jer, as I know you two are best buddies, aren't you? Do what he does and you'll be fine, and perhaps live another day.) Rain gulped and nodded his head quickly. Krome chuckled and patted his head, (Good, now get going.) Rain staggered up, (Oh and Rain, summon them again, and I'll kill you.) Rain gulped and scurried out of Krome's presence.

As he walked down the cave hallways, he passed many heartless. All of them took wide berths around him. As passed them he could hear them whispering behind his back. Rain managed to get to Jer's room and knocked on the wall. A wizard heartless was inside murmuring spells under his breath and casting them at a wall. Each had hit their mark perfectly and just as he was about to cast another he heard the knock. Sighing he floated over to his opening and saw Rain. Jer sighed as he looked Rain over, (Krome again?) Rain nodded his head weakly and staggered inside. Jer grabbed him by the arm and placed him on the ground. He surveyed the extent of Rain's injuries before casting a healing spell at him. Rain moaned as he felt the darkness in Jer's room leap into his wound, sealing it tight. Rain got up and stretched as Jer shook his head, (Rain, you need to get a grip on your meals. You just can't have them run away any more.) (But Jer, I…) (I know Rain. Just stop thinking about what you'll do and do it. I don't see what's so hard about it.) Rain sighed, (Jer, whenever I see them, the fear. I feel … guilty.)

Jer placed a hand on Rain's shoulder, (Rain, you need to let that go. We're beings of darkness, it's what we do. It's how we live. You have eaten only once or twice, you know. And every day you complain about it. It's pleasurable Rain, sure we don't need to do it, but it's what we're meant to do, eat up darkness. Everyone does it, I do it, Krome does it, so get over it and relax once in a while. Think of it like this, they've killed us, so why can't we even it out and take some of them? Rain, they are not deserving of your, well, your… uh…. sympathy. All they deserve is fear from us. The more we make them fear the less they kill us, no?) (I'm not sure about that Jer.) Jer chuckled, (Come now Rain, its perfect sense. Now we best get going, remember last time we were late.) Rain shuddered at the memory and stood behind Jer as a black portal opened in the wall. Jer looked back at him, (Don't worry, you'll soon learn how to do it and then you won't have to rely on me, eh?) Rain chuckled and stepped after Jer into the tunnel of…. light?

Rain squeezed his eyes tight as a bright light filled the room. Blinking his eyes, he looked around wondering for a brief second where he was. It was all back in a flash soon enough and Rain sighed. Looking up he saw that indeed there were lights on the ceiling; there was just no way to turn them on in the cell. Rain then winced as he heard a loud voice, "Heartless, you will be led out of your cell, if you attempt to run or proceed to do an action that you have not been told to do, we will not hesitate to execute you on the spot. Do you understand?" (Wait, what!?) "Do you understand?" (Um, yeah, I guess….) "Do you understand!? I need a nod from you now!" Rain quickly nodded his head. "Good, now stand by at your door, follow your guides. If you stray once from them you will be executed. Follow all of their instructions." Rain was about to ask something, but quickly remembered to nod. The door before him opened and he saw two keybladers on each side of the hallway. These keybladers he had not yet met, but both were tall, male, and each held their keyblades out. Rain gulped and walked out of the room. There was a soft hiss as the door closed behind him. One of the keybladers approached him, "Follow us, or else." Rain nodded again, his body shuddering. Without a second glance both keybladers began to walk down the hallway with Rain behind them.

Mr. Corban as well as Ms. Pollock were both in a large room filled with monitors, most of the time whenever they brought in a priority prisoner, the seats at the monitors were filled, this time was different. They had scouted out three of the monitor workers who would best be able to keep these events secret, and so only three seats were taken. The workers were working furiously, having to bring up a new camera angle every fifteen seconds or so as the escort moved from hallway to hallway. Both of the keybladers were watching the main screen that took up a large portion of the wall in front of them. Ms. Pollock frowned as she watched the escort, "How long will it be before they reach the room?" "About a good thirty minutes at the pace they're setting." Both were silent until Ms. Pollock spoke, "So, what do you think he's going to do to him?" "I don't know Nancy, he could simply question him, that's what I would do. Question him about everything his kind is going to do, which planets they're going to hit, etc." Nancy frowned, "I'm not sure about that Greg, this heartless doesn't seem to be very high in leadership." "Then I guess he'll kill him then." Both turned back to the monitor.

The escort kept walking and walking and walking down the hallways, and they always would turn down one, then another, and Rain thought that once they went in a complete loop, but soon they stopped at a blue door. One of the keybladers fished a card out of his pocket and slide it though some kind of square jutting out of the wall. The door opened and the keybladers motioned to Rain to go in. Rain stepped in and heard a whoosh behind him. Turning around he saw the door had closed behind him. Turning back around he saw that there was a single light on in the room, but it was bright enough to light up everything. In the middle was a table with two chairs on either side, and in one of the chairs was a man. Rain saw that he was a bit shorter than Mr. Corban, he was also skinny, but muscular. He wore a black shirt with a zipper as well as blue pants. He had long black hair which was pushed to either side of his face so his eyes were visible. Rain also saw that his eyes were a bright green, and for the first time (save Mara) didn't see what he had seen in others, hatred.

The man smiled and stood up, "I suppose you're the heartless called Rain?" Rain nodded, (Y-yes.) The man smiled, "Well, that's a new trick for a heartless isn't it? I heard you could talk, just didn't believe then I guess." The man motioned to the other seat, "Please sit down, I'd like to talk to you." Rain walked over and sat down, although the man seemed very nice, he still couldn't shake off a feeling that someone else was watching him. The man sat back down and looked at him, "Well, let me ask you this first…" the man held out his hand and a keyblade colored blue and red appeared in his hand, "do you know what this is called?" Rain gulped, (It's light's weapon, it kills us.) The man nodded, "Yes, it does kill your kind, but the more accurate term is keyblade. I hear you have one, may I see it?" (I-I can't… do what you did.) "I see. Well, tell me about yourself Rain." (What do you want to know?) asked Rain with a cautious note in his voice. "Well, first off, how come you have keyblades?" (It started a long time ago.) "Then let's go back a bit, shall we?" (I guess it started with a dream I had…)

Thank you for your wonderful review ShadowApple. I hope more are able to comment in the future.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I own nothing Square Einx and Disney own, everything else is mine.

Chapter 14

Rain had been sleeping for a short time, he didn't know how long. But he felt something… strange brush against him. Groaning he got up and shook his head, trying to dissipate the drowsiness in his skull. Looking around, he could see darkness, but light also. He looked down and gasped, he was on some kind of… pedestal. Walking to the edged he looked down and gulped, the pedestal went down for miles, with no ground or any other buildings in sight. Fear quickly welled up in the neoshadow, he was not a big fan of heights, and this was an extremely uncomfortable situation for him. Looking around he didn't see any other heartless and briefly wondered how he was taken here, when a voice penetrated his thoughts.

_A being a darkness, with light in his heart, you are needed in the times ahead._

Rain frowned, (Wait, what do you mean? Who are you?)

_Ponder not my identity young one, but ponder your own._

Rain frowned again, but before he could ask the voice again three objects appeared before his eyes. A sword, shield, and a staff were resting on some sort of rocks. Each had three intertwining circles somewhere on their surface. The voice spoke again.

_Choose the one that resonates with your heart. But pick well, for it will determine your future as well._

Rain gulped, he had been this by Krome before. He would have to choose a group to join once he passed training and once he picked one, all other options were closed and he was locked in. Even though this was the same basis, he didn't understand how grabbing a weapon could cause his future to end up in a certain way. Rain looked at the three items, and started to approach the sword.

_The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the path you choose?_

Rain quickly snatched his hand back. Destruction, terrible destruction at that. He didn't want that, he didn't want to harm anyone. If he would destroy things with that sword, then there was no way he would take it. Rain looked at the rod next and walked toward it.

_The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the path you choose?_

Rain snatched his hand back yet again. He had been going for the item until he heard the word ruin. That weapon was exactly the same as the sword. He didn't want to hurt anyone, or ruin anything he might come across. The only item left was the shield, and seemed to be his only chose.

_The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the path you choose?_

Rain didn't know why, but he felt more comfortable with this item than the others. Maybe it was because it didn't seem like it could hurt anyone. He saw the other items and from the way the voice told him, they would make him just like the others. If anything, he would not want to fight, he would… protect. Rain grabbed the shield off of the rock and suddenly the pillar rumbled. Rain quickly curled into a ball, quickly deciding that he had made the wrong choice and now the pillar was going to collapse. However, the pillar soon stopped shacking and Rain looked up, glancing about. The rocks had become embedded in the pillar and the pillar had, in fact, not collapsed. Rain breathed a sigh of as the voice began to speak again.

_To utilize your shield to the fullest, you must learn how to use it._

A bright light suddenly filled the pillar, causing Rain to clench his eyes shut. Opening them he saw a brown object had appeared right in front of him.

_Strike the barrel with the shield and reveal what's inside._

Rain looked down at his shield and frowned, (You said it would protect! Not that it would hurt others!)

_And how do you not protect, if you cannot defend them? How can you protect others if you cannot find the threat against them and defeat it so they will no longer fear?_

Rain frowned, he hadn't thought about that. Looking up at the barrel, he picked up the shield and saw a jutting bar in the back. Grabbing it with his right arm he holstered the shield up and was surprised at how light it was. Glancing at the barrel he raised his shield and smacked the barrel with it. The barrel exploded and an bottle dropped onto the ground. He picked it up and shook it.

_An item to aid you when you are weak._

Rain looked around, not knowing where to store it. Suddenly a pack appeared out of the air and dropped near his feet. He picked it up and opened it. Seeing the open space in the bottle, he got the general idea and deposited the bottle in it.

_Use this to aid you during your journey. Let it take hold of your burden._

Rain grabbed the pack and saw it had straps on it. Rain suddenly felt a sense of familiarity and placed the pack on his back, sliding his arms though the straps so the pack rested on his back. It was then that Rain heard scraping noises along the sides of the pillar. Looking around he saw hands grasping the sides and suddenly white beings flipped onto the pillar. Rain staggered back as three more flipped onto the pillar, making a total of seven of the creatures surrounding him.

_Have faith in your choices._

Rain grasped his shield holding it out before him. One of the white beings ran to him and attempted to head butt him. Rain quickly maneuvered the shield so the being crashed into it. While this one had distracted him another snuck up behind him and slashed at him. Rain cried out in pain and staggered back, right into another one, which proceeded to trip him. As he lay sprawled on his back, he heard the voice again.

_Remember young one, even when alone you can always persevere._

Rain staggered up and placed his shield out in front of him again. As one of the creatures flew at him, it bumped into his shield, but this time Rain did not hold back. He swung his shield at the creature, causing it to cry out as it exploded into a white burst. Grinning, the neoshadow swung at another creature, taking it out in one hit as well. He quickly dispatched two more, but as he hit the last of the two one of the beings came up behind him, but instead of trying to slice him, it wrap its arms around him, pinning his arms to his sides. Rain struggled desperately as one of the others came up and wrapped its arms around his ankles, preventing his legs from moving. The last creature came up, and Rain a kind of zipping noise as its face opened up. Rain gasped as he looked at the razor sharp teeth in the creature's mouth. As soon as it opened the creature flung itself onto Rain, biting deep into his shoulder. Rain cried out and struggled against his captors, but the more he struggled the tighter the arms squeezed him and the deeper the creature bit.

Rain managed to get one of his arms free, and in desperations, attempted to slash at the one biting him. He managed to strike it, causing it to jump back. With his free arm he elbowed the one behind him, causing it to relinquish its hold, and allowed him to hit it with the shield. He then turned his attention to the one still holding his ankles, killing it as well. Getting up the one he had hit earlier was on the opposite side of the pillar and suddenly leapt at him. Rain placed his shield in front of him, knocking back his attacker, and then striking it with his weapon.

The battle finally over, Rain fell onto the floor gasping and clutching his wounded shoulder. The skin had opened and black smoke slowly seeped into the air. Rain managed to shrug off his pack and fished around for the bottle he got earlier. Rain frowned as he studied it, he couldn't drink the liquid, but could he pour it onto his wound? He proceeded to do so, and found it worked that way as well. He poured the rest over the other parts of his aching body, feeling instant relief from his bruises, not only that but the liquid dried instantly when it his skin, leaving him still dry. As Rain got back up, the pillar under suddenly began to glow brighter and brighter until the light was cut off. Rain opened his eyes and gasped. Before the pillar was just white, now there was a picture on it. The picture was of a neoshadow with two white sword like things, but as he stared Rain suddenly realized that the picture was him. There was a loud whishing sound and Rain looked up seeing a set of green stairs leading off of the pillar and what seemed to be another one. Rain took one last glance at the picture before he headed to the steps.

As Rain walked along the path before him, he couldn't help but wonder where he was. The darkness here was much thicker than at home, so he couldn't see very far out. As he closed in on the next pillar, he readied his shield and stepped onto the stone. This pillar already had a picture on it. There was a wizard heartless and a white mushroom. The wizard was holding up his wand and the mushroom was touching her hands together, looking very calm. As Rain stared he could see that the wizard looked a lot like Jer and the mushroom looked very similar to Lana. Suddenly he heard wind and looking behind him, he saw the path he had walked up had disappeared and three more of the creatures were near the edge walking toward him. He quickly pushed his shield out in front of him as one of the creatures leapt at him. It bounced off the shield and Rain swung at it, however it didn't vanish. Rain frowned, obviously these would need to be hit more before they would leave. As the creatures advanced Rain stepped back, and ran forward, ramming into two of the creatures. The one he had hit earlier disappeared in white light. As he finished his charge he felt the one he had missed rake its clawed hand across his back. He quickly turned around and smacked it, making it fly a bit away. He quickly placed his shield back up as the other creature attempted to bite him. He smacked it again and it disappeared. Looking around for the last being, he saw it out of the corner of his eye trying to sneak behind him. He turned to it and rammed into it with his shield, it staggered back and exploded into white light. There was another whooshing sound and Rain saw that a new path had appeared leading again into the darkness. In the middle of the pillar there was another green bottle, no doubt courtesy of whoever was talking to him. He placed it into his pack and walked toward the new path.

As he walked he looked behind him and while he did see the pillar, he saw the path was disappearing behind him. He stopped and the path stopped disappearing, but when he moved forward the path would fade into the darkness. Rain sighed and continued forward. In a few minutes he had made it to the next platform and he quickly looked around, trying to see if anymore of those creatures were around. Luckily none were, but there was a chest in the middle of the platform. Walking up to it he pried it open and saw it contained two more green bottles. Placing them into the pack, the pillar shined with a bright light as a new picture appeared on it. There were three silhouettes of humans. As the neoshadow stared at them, he wondered why the voice was showing him this image. A bright light appeared and suddenly another barrel was on the platform. This time he didn't need any prompting and ran up to the barrel, cracking it open. Inside was another bottle, but it was blue this time.

_Magic is present in most individuals. Let us see if you can control yours._

Three circles suddenly appeared in the air.

_You, for now, have the ability to cast flames at your enemies. Let your inner fire out and direct it at your targets._

Rain thought about this, (How do I do that?)

_Think of what matters to you and release._

Rain thought for a bit more, and then held out his hand. He pointed it at one of the circles and waited, no fire came. What matters to you, that's what the voice said. Rain thought about that, what mattered to him? Well, he had Jer as a friend, and Lana, Lana was also his friend. Maybe that could do it. He pointed his hand to the circle again and thought about his friends, how he met them and all the things he knew about them. A ball of fire suddenly flew out of his hand hitting the circle. Rain felt elation surge though his body and he turned to the next target, sending fire to consume it. Rain quickly sent a third fireball after the last target, but missed. Rain focused his aim this time and hit the target.

_Magic, like any substance, can be used up. When it is, use the gift to set it back to full._

Rain nodded and another path opened up. Rain rushed up the stairs, he was extremely curious to who this person was, still believing that the voice was somewhere on a nearby pillar. This pillar had no picture on it, but he heard the voice again.

_You have just fought the first you will encounter, here is the next._

Rain looked around as he felt the pillar shake. There were loud squeaking sounds as well as thumping noises echoing through the darkness. Two creatures came up the platform, but these were different from the ones he had fought before. They seemed to be covered in a sort of metallic armor, their bodies shining as the light from the pillar hit them. Rain assumed to hit them just like he had with the others and ran forward striking one with his shield. Rain felt it hit with a loud clanging noise. Rain staggered back as the pain traveled up his arm. The being was made of something very, very hard, and it seemed that Rain's shield didn't even make it budge. The creature grabbed hold of Rain with one hand and ripped Rain's shield away from him. It raised its arm behind its back, and threw the shield into the darkness. Rain gulped, now he had no way to defend himself. The being threw him across the pedestal, but as Rain skidded to a stop, there was popping sound in the air and the shield clanged onto the ground before him. Well, at least he couldn't lose it.

He looked up again and saw the two beings approaching him at a sluggish rate. Rain also saw that they seemed to pause with each step they took, and this gave him an idea. He got up and ran at the nearest creature, hitting into it with his shield. As the creature attempted to grab him, he quickly ran around it and rammed into its back with the shield as hard as he could. This caused the creature to buckle at bit, but it simply turned around and smacked him back. Rain staggered up as he looked over them, they had to have a weak point somewhere, the only question was where? As the other creature turned around, Rain saw a small red patch on the back of its neck. With that clue as his only chance he ran up to the one he had hit earlier and ran around it. It too had the same red spot. Rain hit the spot with a side of his shield. The creature staggered a bit, then fell onto the floor. Rain ran to the other one and repeated this strategy, causing the other to also fall onto the floor. Both bodies shimmered before they disappeared. Rain quickly shielded his eyes as the pillar glowed with an intense light and a picture appeared. It was of a man wearing some kind of black cloak, in his right hand he held a small key.

The next path opened up and Rain ran across it. As he was running he heard a clanging sound behind him. Turning around he saw another creature running up it to him. He readied his shield as the creature crashed into him. Rain was not prepared for how much power was behind the charge and he crashed onto the steps. As the Rain was about to get up the creature grasped him in its hands and turned so he was hanging over the darkness. Rain immediately knew what the creature was attempting and began to struggle frantically in its grasp. The creature released him, and it was due to Rain's flailing that he was able to grab onto one of the steps. The creature looked down and began to raise its leg, but Rain reached out and grabbed it, tugging it forward. The creature fell off the steps and Rain in turn pulled himself up his body sweating heavily. This time Rain did not pause as he ran up the steps.

As soon as Rain stepped off the stairs, four more of the creatures jumped up from the darkness and quickly sped toward him. Rain quickly placed up his shield as each hit it in rapid succession. These creatures were smaller than the others and much faster as well. The still had the same metallic shine as the others so Rain assumed that they also had the same weakness. His hypothesis proved correct as he dashed behind one still dazed from hitting the shield and saw the same red spot on its neck. Rain struck at it causing the creature to collapse. While he had focused on this one the others sped behind him and charged straight at him. He fell on the ground hard as the creatures stepped back, dazed from the attack. Rain barely got up before the creatures regained their senses and rushed in for another attack, but Rain hefted up his shield in time so each hit the metal with a dull thunking sound. Rain ran to the nearest one and quickly took it out. He braced himself yet again as the other ran at him again, and after he repeated the process again taking out another. He turned to the last one, and readied his shield, but it didn't run at him. He heard an odd voice come from the creature. **CALCULATING SUCCESS RATING…. 13% CHANCE OF SUCCESS AGAINST TARGET HEARTLESS, SUCCESS RATE TOO LOW.** The creature turned around and jumped off of the building into the darkness. Rain stared, bewildered at the creatures words, when the pillar glowed with a white light. Looking down the picture showed a young man with bright blonde hair. He had a pair of goggles on over his eyes and he wore a white shirt and blue jeans. The man held a lock in his left hand and had a smile on his face.

Rain stared as the next staircase appeared. He stood there for a few seconds before he sat on the ground. (No. I'm not doing this anymore.) He looked up, (I don't know who you are, but I don't want to meet you.)

_Trust in me Rain. Trust me as I say that this trial will prepare you for what comes ahead._

Rain stood up, (How do you know my name! I never told you my name!) The voice was silent. The pillar began to tremble and Rain quickly jumped onto the stairs as the pillar crashed down. Rain sat on the stairs thing about what happened until the bottom step just… disappeared.

_If you will not finish your trial voluntarily, then I will force you to finish._

Rain's eyes widened and he quickly raced up the stairs as the steps began to disappear behind him. He ran as fast as he could, but it seemed the steps would disappear before he could reach the next pillar. He could see his destination before him, he just needed to run a bit more. The step he was going to land on next suddenly disappeared as his foot landed causing him to reach out to the next step, barely catching the edge. He desperately tried to pull himself up, but his hands were slipping. (Look, I'm sorry! Please, I….I….) Before Rain could finish his sentence a step appeared right underneath his feet and raised up so it was level with the other stairs. Rain fell on his knees clutching his head, realizing how close he was to dying.

_You must realize that you must pass this test. You must unlock your inner strength._

Rain looked up, (Y-you sa-said I w-was almost a-at th-the end… right?)

_This is your final test, be prepared to face your shadow._

Rain nodded weakly and took off his pack, spraying himself with another of the bottle's content before he walked the rest of the way to the last pillar. Once there Rain saw that this pillar also had a picture already on it. There were blank silhouettes, but Rain couldn't identify them since they were so close together, but he could tell there were at least . As Rain stared the area suddenly darkened and Rain realized that the darkness was shaped like a shadow. He looked up and gasped, one of metal creatures was floating just above him. Rain slowly began to back away, but he reached the edge, causing him to yelp and he shuffled forward a bit.

_Don't be afraid. Use your strength, use your light._

Rain looked up his body shaking as he lifted up his shield. The creature looked down and fell onto the pillar with a loud thud. Rain whimpered as he held up his shield, his only defense. The creature's single red eye looked down at him, **CALCULATING SUCCESS RATE… 65% CHANCE OF SUCCESS. **As soon as the creature talked it staggered up and from its body grew two large arms, each with three very sharp claws. **HIGH ENOUGH PERCENGTAGE TO ENGAGE**. The creature pointed its fists at him as they began to spin, Rain then heard a soft spattering sound and looked around him. He didn't know what the thing was doing and pondered when he felt pain in his shoulder. Rain cried out and staggered back clutching his shoulder in pain. There was some kind of hole in his shoulder and wisps of his darkness slowly dissipated from his wound. Looking around the pillar he saw that parts of the picture had cracked and it seemed like the glass had been punctured by something.

Rain stepped back as the red eye fell on him again, **RECALCULATING… 76% CHANCE OF SUCCESS. REDIRECTING MAIN POWER TO ACCURACY MODULES. ** Rain quickly ran to the side as the creature fired off the bullets again. Wait, bullets, how did he know that? Before Rain could ponder, the machine turned toward him and fired again. Rain ran again, and quickly realized that while the being was firing at him, it wasn't moving. Rain ran up and struck at the machine's leg. Fortunately this one seemed to have less armor than the others and Rain easily caused it to buckle. The creature back handed him and fired again, Rain easily dodged and smacked at the leg again, but avoid the hand as it attempted to hit him. The creature jumped into the air and slammed onto the pillar, causing Rain to fall down. Its hand reached down and picked Rain up. Rain took the time to make multiple slashes at its wrist. He must have done enough damage because the hand fell off. He forced it open and crawled out. **RECALCULATING… 43% CHANCE OF SUCCESS. ** Rain ran to the leg he had been attacking and hit it again. It fell off, ** RECALCULATING… 34% CHANCE OF SUCCESS. **Rain ran to the other leg and hit it again and again until it too fell off. The creature was talking again, but Rain didn't listen as he destroyed the other hand. The creature's eye locked on him, **EMERGENCY PROCEDURE ACTIVATED.** A beam from its eye hit into him causing him to fall onto the ground. Another beam came out hitting him again, and again. Rain staggered up as the creature readied the beam again. This time Rain jumped to the side and ran behind the creature. Raising his shield he struck at the neck, and continued to smash at it. **MAIN POWER SYS-SYS-SYSTEM FAILLLLLLLLLLL………….**. Rain sat on the floor, his body aching as the creature disappeared in a flash a bright light.

_The trial has been passed. Now you must go._

(Wait, who are you?)

_Now you must go._

(Can't you tell me your name?) But the voice kept on repeating the same phase.

Blackness closed in on the neoshadow as the voice droned on.

_It's time to go. It's time to go. It's time to go. It's time to go. It's time to go._ (IT'S TIME TO GO RAIN!)

Rain cried out as he fell from the stone ledge he had been sleeping on. Looking up he saw an infuriated Jer above him. (Hey Jer.) The wizard snarled, grabbed his arm and practically dragged him down the hall. (Jer, where are we going?) (To the dome! Idiot, did you forget today is when Ashton arrives!?) Rain felt his fear rise up, (I-It's today!?) (Yes! Now, come on before Krome finds out!) As the two heartless ran down the empty hallways, Rain couldn't help but think about his odd dream.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own anything by Disney or Square Einx, anything else is mine, ESPECIALLY RAIN.

(I, I guess that's where it started.) Rain was sitting in his seat looking down at his hands. The man sitting on the opposite side of the table had taken no notes while had told his tale, why would he need to? There were plenty of recording machines in the room. (After that… that dream, everything started going wrong.) the neoshadow muttered as he shook his head. "What went wrong Rain?" (Everything! First I started, I don't know, started hearing voices. They kept me up and even in the deep places I could hear them. Then I started having more dreams, I dreamt of other people, places I had never seen. If that wasn't bad enough those… swords just appeared one day.) "When did they appear?"

(It was during battle practice. I didn't know what happened, I just…. I don't know what I felt, but I felt something and I was practicing against Nom. He had me pinned and suddenly, these… things just pop into my hands. Everyone was silent for a minute and then… they just ran to the other side of the dome! I didn't know if I did something wrong or something. It took quite a while for Krome to explain what they were. Once I knew what they were, I did everything to get rid of them. I tossed them in various locations, I- I buried them, I tried burning them. I even tried getting one of the ships to drop it in space. But no matter what I did, they kept coming back!) Rain banged his head against the metal table, (Even Lana, she said she would help me, and- and she disappeared! They even drove Jer away. He barely talked to me!)

The man across the table frowned, hearing Rain's tale sounded like other stories he had heard. New keybladers who had never heard of keyblades have an awakening one night, and then the next thing they know they have a sword in one hand. It made sense that the heartless would react the way he did, he was told after all that the weapons he held had the potential to kill him as well as his friends. He leaned forward, "And what did you do when they kept coming back?"

The heartless looked up and the man thought he saw a frustrated gleam in the heartless' eyes, (I just… ignored them. It was hard, especially when everyone snarled at me when I passed, or whenever I went to train with the others and had to sit out because I was a 'death to everyone on the field'.) The heartless' head drooped again, (And one day they went away. I was so glad! The whole day without any swords, it was the best one I had yet. It was when we invaded that they came back, and I-I…) The heartless closed his eyes.

"What Rain?" (I… I killed Blot.) he said in a small whisper. He clutched his head, (Me and Jer, we were just walking and Blot came and attacked me. He said that others wanted to ma-make sure I couldn't harm anyone. Jer tried to help me, but… but he was thrown away.) Rain looked up with fear in his eyes, (I-I got… I got angry. And… I don't know why I did, but I swung m-my hand out, to hit him. It just appeared and- and then he just… disappeared.) Rain shook his head, (I didn't want to hurt him. And Krome saw and-and he tried to kill me! I ran, I-I left Jer and ran.) The heartless closed his eyes, (I ran.)

The man frowned, "So this was the first time you did something wrong?" (No. I'm not like the others. I've done other things.) "What other things?" Rain squired in his seat, (I let a captive go, and-and I don't like to kill.) he croaked. "So you're a pacifist." (A what?) "A pacifist is someone who doesn't like to hurt others. They prefer other methods than hurting and killing others." Rain looked up, (There's others like me?) The man smiled, "Of course, they have been pacifists as far back as I can remember."

While the two were conversing, Ms. Pollock and Mr. Corban were talking as well. "So, that's why he was being attacked by the others, because of the keyblades." Mr. Corban nodded, "Seems likes that's the case. He's being targeted by the others because he's weak compared to them and in order for everyone to be strong, the weak must be weeded out. Happens all the time in nature." Ms. Pollock turned to him. "Have you been listening Greg? These are not mindless beings, they talk to each other, they are smarter than simple animals!" Mr. Corban frowned, "Would explain the past few years then. When they attacked the embassy on Atlantis and disabled the security, the raids on various worlds, they've been coordinating this entire time and we were fooled!" Mr. Corban slapped a hand against his face, "All this time we thought we were fooling them, but they've been fooling us!" Ms. Pollock sighed, "I guess it's time to go back to the drawing board on studying heatless behavior, huh?" Mr. Corban simply frowned.

"So Rain, why tell me this? Why even talk to me or the others?" The neoshadow sighed, (I guess it's nice to actually talk with someone. The only thing anyone wanted to talk about back home is was how to kill. The only person I could really talk with was Jer, and he thought I was weird.) "So what do you want to do now?" The heartless shook his head, (I-I don't know. Before this happened I was just doing what I was told, and know I don't know. I just don't want to hurt anyone, that's all I want to do.) The man frowned, "So, you don't want to hurt others, pretty strange for a heartless if you ask me." (That's what everyone else said too.) The man looked down at his watch, "If you'll excuse me for a brief moment, I have to check on something."

The man stepped out of his office and briskly walked down the hallway to another door and stepped inside. He quickly spotted his two officers and motioned them over. "So what do you two thinks about Rain?" Mr. Corban frowned, "I don't like this one bit, sir. I say we kill it and get the problem done with." "How about you Nancy?" The woman sighed, "Sir, I have to say that while part of me agrees with Greg, another part is telling me to keep him alive. I don't know why, but I feel that he is no threat to us or anyone here. I personally think he too scared of us to make a move against us." Mr. Corban glared at her, "Nancy, why in hell would we keep a heartless here? First off, it will be more than a challenge keeping this secret from the other universities and the council. Second, if this is found out, then we could have the book thrown at us. And third, a dead heartless is the only good heartless." Ms. Pollock sighed, "Greg you just cut and paste that statement to fit this situation." "Well it _is_ a good universal statement." The man held up both of his hands, "Both of you, calm down. Now we can go one of two paths, we either kill him, or we don't. So, what's it going to be?" Ms. Pollock quickly spoke, "Sir, I say we keep him alive, but observe him. If he does do anything to harm anyone, we kill him right on the spot no questions asked. But if he doesn't, then let's see what he does. Right now Rain is a goldmine of information, think of all of the things we can learn from him! The locations of heartless lairs, different heartless leaders on the move, the planets they are hiding on, everything we need! We can learn about how they live, how they train! If we use his knowledge, we will get paid in the long run." Mr. Corban smiled, "I'm actually impressed Nancy, you're actually seeing the long term effects of this heartless." The man nodded, "So, it's decided then, we will keep him here and find out more about his kind." The man's grin grew, "I am thinking of the perfect way we can use him for this institution."

Rain was rocking his feet back and forth when the door opened. The same man stepped in and sat back down. "Sorry about the wait, but I have a very serious question for you Rain." (Yes?) The man smiled, "How would like to stay here for a while?" (W-what!?) "I'm not forcing you to do this, this is your choice. But you have nowhere else to go at the moment, why not stay at our institute and find out how to use your keyblades." The heartless looked away, (I don't know. Those… what did you say they were again?) "Keyblades." (These keyblades, they hurt others. I don't want to kill anyone. I would rather you take them.) The man chuckled, "Unfortunately, that's not how the keyblades work Rain. Once they choose you, you can't choose to chuck them away. They will always be with you and protect you." (I- I need to think about it.) "Good, you'll be escorted back to your room now, tomorrow, I'll take you to a better room." The heartless nodded as the two guards from before opened the door. Rain started walking out, but stopped short, (Wait, what's your name?)

The man looked up, "Ken… Ken Storic."

(Nice to meet you.)

"And you too Rain."

As the heartless walked away, Ken thought back to what Ms. Pollock had said about his idea, "Sir, if we do keep him here, we need to find out more about him." "Such as…?" "Well, how can a being without a heart call a keyblade."

_Indeed_, thought Ken, _how can one without a heart wield a keyblade_?

Yeah, this is one pretty short. Sorry haven't been keeping up the story, with all the exams (and now finals ) I have been having a hard time finding time to post updates. From now on I should be able to post once a week, but things may still change. Thank you to all my faithful readers, I promise to get back on track with this.


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